Until You're Mine
by Thing2BK
Summary: Alfred's got a crush on his detention buddy. Too bad she doesn't care one bit. America/Vietnam, human names used, possible OOC.
1. Chapter 1

"Hand it over Jones." The tall brunette snapped, tapping a foot impatiently.

Alfred blushed in embarrassment, and tried to stuff his phone out of sight, only for the teacher to snatch it up in her long fingers. "Aw C'mon Ms. K! I wasn't texting I swear!" He whined, looking up at her with wide eyes.

She looked between Alfred, and the phone in her hand, as if seriously considering handing it over, then grinned, and shook her head. "You can get it at the end of the day when you come in for your detention."

"For a cell phone?"

"For your fourth late this week, remember?" Al darkened again, trying to ignore Arthur's snickers from behind him. "At least this way I can guarantee you'll show up." She muttered, returning to her desk, and glancing at the students, who were now starting to talk again. "Can't you people shut up for five minutes?"

The room fell silent again, though a few people laughed. Ms. Kale's bluntness seemed to amuse students, while it made teachers cringe. She got respect from kids though, and that was enough to keep her from getting fired.

"So Al, you'll go to your detention right?" Alfred looked up at Matthew's question, startled.

"My phone's worth way to much to let her have it overnight. Who knows what she'd do to it?" The blond groaned, slamming his head on the desk. "So yes, I'll be here. If I don't come back by midnight, I have been seduced by our dear English teacher, and will most likely never be the same again."

Al smirked as his brother burst out laughing, making half the class jump, and Ms. Kale raise one eyebrow. "What wit has Mr. Jones graced us with now Matt?" She asked absent-mindedly, not looking up from the novel in one hand.

"N-nothing!" He stammered, trying to stifle his laughter, which was now reduced to giggles.

The sound of the bell interrupted what the teacher was going to reply with, and everyone scrambled to get out the door first.

"So you'll come with me to detention, right Mattie?" Al begged once the last bell had rung.

"Are you crazy? I told you this morning I've got a date!"

"You'd pick Ivan over me? Your own flesh and blood?"

"Any time bro." He said, grabbing his backpack from the locker, and heading towards the main entrance. "Have fun getting seduced!"

"Maybe I will ya dick-whipped traitor!" He called back, scowling as he made his way back to the English room.

"Glad to see you actually showed up. There's no telling what could've happened to your precious phone if you'd forgotten." Ms. Kale was looking way too happy for a teacher. Suddenly, her expression went neutral again. "Same to you Ly. It's about time you actually attempted to come to these."

Alfred turned to look at the girl who'd just walked in. Long brown hair was pulled into a tight ponytail, hanging to about her waist, which was covered in colourful belts attached to black jeans. An array of bracelets ran up her arms, her t-shirt loudly proclaimed the name of some band, and her expression loudly proclaimed that she really didn't want to be there. "Hey! I'm Al." He grinned, sticking out a hand, which she stared at, before turning and sitting in a desk at the back.

Not to be deterred, (Al wasn't used to people not liking him) he slammed his backpack on top of the desk next to her. "Ly, right?"

"Yeah."

"What is that, Chinese?"

She glared at him out of the corner of her eyes. "No. Vietnamese."

He opened his mouth in an O, and then grinned. "Cool!"

"You two can stop talking now. If I hear a single sound, I'm snapping this phone in half."

The blond clamped his mouth shut. He knew she was serious. Instead, he pulled a notebook from his backpack, and started writing in his print, which Mattie called 'scribbling' and passed it over to Ly.

_So were you named after your grandma or something?_

The girl scowled at the note, and again at him, making a point of crumpling the sheet and throwing it back at him.

Grinning, he tore off another piece.

_Grandpa?_

This was also thrown at him, followed by a flash of her middle finger.

Alfred sighed, and slumped over on the desk, staring at the clock, willing the hour to go faster. Throwing one more look at Ly, who was now reading. He felt his face grow pink at he watched her eyes dance across the pages.

"I think I'm in love Matt."

"That's nice." The blond said, digging through the fridge. "So should I be worried about English classes from now on or will you two get a room?"

"It's not Ms. K." He insisted.

"Sure it's not. You're dating your textbook."

"No! It's this girl I was in detention with, this Vietnamese chick!"

"Ly?"

"You know her?" He yelled, jumping up, excited.

"Only that she and her step-sister, Mei have been in and out of more foster homes than Gil, and she's not exactly a better person for it. Mei's really nice, but Ly is a wild one. You won't get anywhere with her." He warned, but knowing his brother, he'd try anyway.

"I'm gonna land myself in detention tomorrow." He declared. "And then I'm gonna ask her out."

Thank you!

What is going to happen between Al and Ly? =O You all know the answer to that don't you?

If you haven't guessed, I was bored as all hell, so I told my friend, pick a random pairing and I will write it, and she said America/Vietnam, to which I replied, why not?

I don't really know how to write Vietnam, so I just made her a punk/deadpan snarker because I enjoy seeing Al get shot down. =D

The character of Ms. Kale has existed in my mind longer than I've watched anime, her name just changes a lot depending on what kind of character I need, so I enjoy writing her greatly. Don't like her? Too bad, she shows up a lot in this.

Reviews make me thrilled. Seriously, I get giddy when I check my emails and get review alerts =D I also want to know if you actually think this is any good so I'm not writing for no reason.

I do not own Hetalia; I wish I could say I did. Then I'd be rich, and I'd own Hetalia! =3


	2. Chapter 2

Alfred did better than his word. He showed up the next day for English planning on breaking every rule he could. He waltzed right in (A few minutes before the first bell so no one would be watching) wearing a cowboy hat, and he draped an arm casually around Ms. Kale's waist. "Morning darlin'." He said in the best southern drawl he could muster (Which was actually really good) "What's say you 'n me lock the door 'n pick up from last night?"

"What the hell are you doing Jones?" She asked, gingerly prying his hand off of her like it was a dead rat. "Annoying me for an hour in class just isn't good enough anymore?"

"Not at all darlin'. How 'bout I swing by after school for another hour too?"

"Give it a rest. That accent's creepy." She snapped, reaching for the metre stick on her desk threateningly. Al had only heard rumors about what happened when you pushed 'The K' too far, but like all freshmen before him, he'd thought they were just stories. Now he wasn't so sure.

"I'm gone!" He said, raising his hands in surrender. "But not forgotten."

"Sadly."

The bell rang, and Alfred flopped into his seat, swinging his feet up onto the desk, and tilting the hat down to cover his face, as he started to doze off.

"Geez Al! Don't do this!" Matt hissed in a muffled tone that told Al, who was now barely awake, that his brother had his face in his hands.

The sound of Ms. Kale's heels clicking on the tile grew louder, and a hand grabbed the hat, and pulled it off swiftly, nearly choking Al with the string attached. He opened one eye, and grinned at her scowl. "You gonna kiss me darlin'?"

"So God help me I will beat you." She hissed. "I'll see you in detention _sans _inner Texan if you don't mind." And with that, she turned around, and started writing the day's lesson on the blackboard, so she missed the victorious grin on Alfred's face.

This time, he went to detention with a bounce in his step. "You look pretty happy for someone stuck with 'the K' for another hour." His friend Gilbert called absent-mindedly. He was a little more preoccupied in annoying his little brother.

"Of course! I'm getting a date tonight!" He grinned.

Gil dropped the hand that was poking Ludwig's face in shock, then he matched the blond's grin. "My friend, you are a hero. People will praise your name forever more as the guy who died trying to date Ms. Kale. Gotta say, I'll miss you buddy."

"Well I won't deny the hero part, but who the hell in their right mind would date a teacher, really?"

"Ask Ivan about Russian literature sometime, he'll let you know. So who's the lucky girl then?"

"Ly. The Vietnamese girl."

This time, it was Gil's jaw that practically hit the floor. "In that case. I will make sure to attend your funeral… if they find the body that is." He managed, returning to his brother, offering a final sad wave to the teen behind him.

"Hey teach! I showed up, do I get a gold star?" He called, grinning. Blue eyes scanned the room, and found Ly in her seat at the back. "Hey Ly! You're here too? Small world!" He cheered, trying to sound genuinely surprised.

Her eyes flicked up briefly from the notebook she was writing in, and then went straight back down. "Hey dumbass."

"I'll take that as a new term on endearment, okay?"

"Stop talking Jones. I have a headache."

"Sure thing Ms. K! I'll be as silent as the grave." He promised, sitting down next to Ly, and resting his head on the desk, turning so he was watching her write. If he were as artistic as Matt, he decided, he'd probably draw her or something, but he was pretty satisfied in staring until she noticed.

Finally, she paused in whatever she was doing, and glanced up at him, raising an eyebrow as if to ask, 'What?'

Al just shrugged, and flashed her a wide grin, and continued staring until she sighed, and tore another page from her notebook and wrote quickly.

_Do you really have nothing better to do than stare at me dumbass?_

He blinked at the question, and then scrambled to grab his own notebook, and write a reply.

_Not really. Plus, not like you're hard on the eyes._

Ly's eyes narrowed at that, and she turned back to the desk, and continued to ignore Alfred.

_What'd I say… write? _He grinned at his attempt at cleverness, but she just scowled at the paper on the desk. _Come on! You can tell me!_

_Are you always this annoying?_

_It's a gift._

Ly rolled her eyes, and stood up. "Can I go to the bathroom K?"

"Go ahead."

"Me too?" Al asked hopefully.

"No."

Pouting, he sat back down, and started to figure out how he was going to ask Ly out. He started to scratch down possible conversations.

_Wanna hang out on Friday? _No. Too easy.

_Will you go out with me? _Now that made him sound desperate.

By the time Ly returned, he had about three pages of possibilities, none of which he liked, from pick-up lines to conventional 'will you go out with mes'.

"You two can leave now."

Crap. He was just going to have to wing it.

"Hey Ly!"

"What is it dumbass?"

"It'dbetotallyawesomeifyou'dgooutwithme!" He spat out rapidly, flinching as he did so. Anyone else would've found his expression adorable, too bad Ly wasn't one for adorable.

She stared at the blond in total confusion before asking, "Okay, what?"

"I'm asking you out."

"Are you high?"

"…I don't know…"

Her expression quickly switched from surprise, to its usual annoyance. "Yeah right." She sniffed. "I don't date morons."

"So is that a yes?" He asked hopefully, grinning from ear to ear. With his eyes practically glowing in anticipation. She could almost imagine him with a dog's tail, wagging in anticipation.

Ly almost laughed. Almost. She managed to catch herself before any giggles escaped, and sighed. "I'll think about it."

"Woot!" He cheered, punching the air. "See you tomorrow!" And leaving it at that, he dashed out of the school, where Matt was waiting in the car they shared. "I'm halfway there Mattie!"

"Halfway to what? Reading at a fifth grade level?"

"Geez, you know I'm nowhere near there. Your standards are way too high. I'm halfway to a date!"

"Halfway." He repeated flatly.

"Halfway." Alfred echoed, grinning. "She said she'd think about it."

"You realize that means no, right?"

As the two brothers started to argue again, Ly watched vaguely from her perch on a bench just inside the school. "Hey! Ly! I'm all done with the book club!" Mei's cheerful voice rang out, breaking her thoughts. "Thanks for not leaving without me. I know you don't like waiting."

"I wasn't waiting long. Ready to go?"

"Uhuh! So how was your day?"

She shrugged, still staring at the place where the twins' car had been sitting a minute ago. "Nothing special."


	3. Chapter 3

"Ly! Wake up! We're going to be late!"

She opened one dark brown eye lazily at the sound of her sister's voice. "What time is it?"

"Seven thirty." She replied instantly. "Mom and dad already left for work and…"

That got her up fast. "How many times have I told you not to call them that? They're not our goddamn parents! They're Carol and David, you got that? _Carol and David!_"

"I know, I know! I'm sorry!"

Ly sighed at her sister's frightened face. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap. Go get ready and I'll be down in a minute."

"Ok."

She let her mind wander as she got dressed, and it finally settled on Alfred. The stupid American would want an answer today, she jut knew it. Truth be told, she hadn't given him a second thought all weekend, and now that was starting to haunt her.

"You ready?" Mei called from the front door.

"Coming!" Oh well, not like they had any classes together. She hadn't seen him before that day in detention, so if she didn't land herself in there anymore, she'd never see him again.

"Hey Ly!" So why was he standing at the front door, waving at her like the moron that he was?

"What do you want dumbass?" She sighed.

"Aww! I missed you too! Did you think about it?"

"Think about what?" Mei asked peering around her sister to see the blond, and her face broke into a wide grin. "Sorry to interrupt, see you at lunch!"

"Mei! Wait! It's not like that!" But her cries fell on deaf ears as the ninth grader dashed off, laughing happily. "And no, I didn't think about it."

His face suddenly fell, looking more and more like a kicked puppy every second. "Not all weekend?"

"Didn't even cross my mind."

"Well then…" He brightened again, as he snatched a permanent marker from the bag slung over his shoulder, yanked up the sleeve of Ly's sweater, and wrote in large capital letters:

_**THINK ABOUT IT!**_

"There! Now you'll remember! Can I see you after school? Great! See you then!" And without letting her get a single word in, he ran off to join his friends.

Ly stared at the words that were now screaming from her arm, and then shoved the sleeve back down, hoping it wouldn't be too warm today.

"So what'd she say Alfred?"

"Huh? Who?" His head snapped up at Kiku's question. His friend was standing over his desk, something he rarely did. As much as he enjoyed Al's company, he didn't like to associate with him within the classroom.

"Ly. Matthew told me you asked her out."

"Oh. She's thinking." He sounded as chipper as always, but the giddy sparkle was absent from his blue eyes.

Nodding, he headed back to his desk, and bent down over his work. Al sighed, and slumped over the desk, staring at the blank chalkboard. "You okay?" Arthur asked from behind him.

"Fine."

"Ah, so you've met 'rejection' have you? Not so friendly is it?"

"Shut up bushy brows."

"Fine, but one day you're going to have to accept that you're an annoying git, and a lot of people don't like that in a person."

"Save the sermon, I said I'm fine!"

Arthur complied, falling to silence once more, but Matthew continued to stare at his brother's blank face, worry growing in the pit of his stomach. He'd never seen Al this down ever before.

As the final bell rang, Al sprang from his desk, and bolted for the door, nearly crashing into some poor ninth grader, who looked near tears as he fell. "Sorry kid!" He yelled over his shoulder, continuing his sprint for the front door. He needed to get there before Ly could leave.

He sat just outside the door, watching students pour out. It did occur to him that Ly might use another exit, but his instincts told him she used this door. Long brown hair caught his eye, but when he grabbed the girl's wrist, it was Mei who was blinking up in surprise at him. "Can I help you?"

"Oh." He dropped her wrist. "You're Ly's sister, right?"

"Yes."

"Where is she?"

"She left at lunch, but she told me to give you this." Mei dug through her own backpack, until she pulled out a bright purple highlighter, and grabbed Al's arm, writing 'NO' in massive letters. "Sorry."

Al stared at the two letters, each of which felt like a knife. "It's okay. Guess I shouldn't have really expected much." He glanced up quickly. "Can I give you guys my number? Just in case?"

Mei smiled, and nodded, though the likelihood of her sister changing her mind was very slim.

Grinning, Al tore a piece of paper from his notebook, and quickly wrote his home, and cell numbers. "Don't hesitate to call for anything else really. I am a hero after all!"

She giggled, and pocketed the paper, briefly thinking, 'I kind of hope Ly changes her mind.'

"So, what'd she say?" Matthew asked, tossing his bag into the backseat.

In reply, Al stuck out his arm, showing the ugly purple word. "And she didn't even tell me herself! She had her little sister do it!"

"Ouch!"

"So I gave her my number."

"You what? I know it's only two years' difference, but seriously, she's in grade nine, _and _she's the sister of the girl you liked!"

"What're you going on about Mattie?"

"Wait, so you're not gonna go after Mei?"

"Why would I do that? I'm still gonna get Ly."

"You are insane. She hurls insults at you, you ask her out. She shoots you down; you give her your number. And you're still going to pursue her. Freakin' insane!"

"Thank ya darlin'!" He grinned, pulling from the parking lot and heading home.


	4. Chapter 4

"Al! Get the phone will ya?"

Alfred, still refusing to open his eyes to the blinding sunlight, felt around blindly for the phone on his bedside table. "Yo." He mumbled sleepily.

"A-Alfred? It's Mei."

"Yeah. What's up?"

The girl on the other end sounded close to tears. "It's Ly. She wasn't home when I got back yesterday, and she's still not back, and… I'm sorry, but I need help."

He was already out of bed, with the cordless phone pressed between his shoulder and ear. "I'll be right over. What's your address?"

He copied down what she managed to tell him, said goodbye, and hung up, grabbing his glasses, and running down the hall. "Matt! We gotta go!"

"Go where? We have school, remember?"

"This is more important! To the batcave Robin!" And with that, he ran for the garage, snatching the keys from the kitchen counter as he went.

"Since when am I Robin?" The smaller blond muttered, following his brother. "At least let me be Nightwing."

It started raining just as they pulled into the driveway of the small house. Mei came flying out the door, and jumped into the backseat. "Thank you so much. I don't think I can find her on my own."

"Anytime. Where do you think she'd go?"

Without warning, Mei broke down in sobs. "I don't know! She doesn't tell anyone what she does! Not since they took away our brothers."

"Wait, brothers?" Matt asked, turning around to face her. "You got split up?"

"Yeah, between foster homes. That's when she started getting distant and stopped trusting me."

"Well then we'll just look everywhere!" Al decided, grinning as he drove off, though really, he was probably more even concerned than the other two.

They tried local hangout spots for teenagers, but they were all empty, save for a few kids skipping school, looking for a place to hide. Apparently Ly was much better at hiding than they were.

"We might as well split up, we'll fan out from here, and meet back in about two hours, sound good?" Al offered, pulling to a stop in an empty parking lot.

Mei and Matt agreed, and they all got out of the car, and left.

Al was following a brick wall that ran around a private academy when it finally stopped raining, and he was about to give up. The two hours were long gone, but he refused to turn back. Now his frustration was eating away at him, until he broke down and flung a fist at the wall beside him, and immediately regretted it. Gritting his teeth, he hissed in pain, and crouched down, holding it.

"You gonna live, dumbass?"

Looking up, he saw Ly sitting on the wall above him, and started to smile despite himself. "Maybe not. You might have to come down here and check it out."

She sighed, and ran a hand through her hair, which was wet from the earlier rain. "Why are you here?"

"Looking for you of course! Your sister's worried sick, and so was I." He murmured, standing up.

Ly jumped down from her perch, and glared at him. "Why do you care? I shot you down, and not even to your face! You should be pissed! You should hate…" She broke off as Al hugged her tightly. "Let go." She protested weakly, mentally slapping herself for feeling tears sting her eyes.

"I could never hate you Ly."

"Go die in a hole."

"As you wish." He said jokingly. _Princess Bride _was the only romance he'd ever seen (even if it didn't really count). She gave a watery laugh, and finally brought her arms up to his shoulders to return the embrace. "Now will you go out with me?" He asked suddenly, grinning hopefully.

Ly pulled away, and smiled weakly. "Okay."

"Yes!" He cheered. He quickly pulled out his phone and dialed his brother. "Mattie, Mattie, Mattie! She said yes!"

"You found her?" Al winced, holding the phone away from his ear at the sudden increase of volume in Matthew's voice. "You have any idea how long Mei and I were waiting? We thought you got killed by a hobo or something!"

"Relax Mattie! I'm low on minutes from your last rant." He knew better than to let his brother get started. He'd once gone on for three hours about his flaws, each one of them a nail on the head. "We'll be right back, meet you at the car."

This was followed by loud static as Matt sighed. "Don't bother. Where are you? We'll come get you."

"Thanks for picking us up! Have I ever told you you're my favorite brother? And that even includes Arthur, and he's my chosen brother! So can I please, please drive?"

"Nope." Came the blunt reply. Mei turned and gave Al an apologetic smile as Matthew's fingers tightened around the wheel.

"B-but I don't trust you to drive when you're angry. You're even worse than that Italian kid! You'll kill us all!" He pleaded.

One glare was enough to make the blond shrink into the backseat, and look over at Ly, who had fallen asleep beside him. If her wandering all night hadn't completely exhausted her, being attacked by a sobbing Mei definitely did it. It took nearly ten minutes to convince her that Ly was alright, and that she wouldn't run off like that ever again.

"Thank you both so much." Mei said for possibly the twentieth time. "I would've never found her on my own."

"Anytime." Al replied automatically.

As they pulled into the driveway, Mei thanked them one more time, and hopped out, opening the side door, and then frowning at the sleeping Ly. "I don't want to wake her."

"Leave it to me." Al grinned, getting out himself, and racing around to the other side, where he carefully picked her up, and turned back to Mei. "Lead the way."

She laughed, and hurried ahead to unlock the door. "You know, that's either the cutest thing I've ever seen, or the creepiest." She noted.

"Well I was going for romantic, but I'll settle for cute!" He flashed another winning smile, and followed Mei into the house, leaving Matt in the car.

"Why do I even let him drag me around like this? I didn't even do anything…" He sighed, and continued to mutter about missing half of school, and the opportunity of a date all thanks to his idiotic brother always having to play the damn hero.


	5. Chapter 5

Ly woke up a couple hours later to her little sister's beaming face. "When'd we get home?" She mumbled, starting to get up.

"A little while ago. Alfred and Matthew already left."

"Crap. I should've thanked them."

"I already did. They said it was no big deal."

She gave the girl a small smile, and got up. She hadn't really thought about it before, but her sister really was a sweetheart, getting the twins to help look for her, even though they barely knew each other. "Well, I'll give them a call anyway. Do you have their number?"

"Right here." Mei handed her the slightly crumpled piece of paper Alfred had handed her the day before. The number was barely legible, but it was there. "I was supposed to give it to you yesterday but…"

"Yeah… Sorry about that." Neither one really wanted to talk about her running off, so Ly just climbed out of bed, and ran to the hallway for the phone.

"Hey! Ly! You got my number!" She winced at the volume of his voice, but trucked on anyway.

"Hi. I thought I should thank you for this morning… So thanks." She mumbled awkwardly, not really knowing what to say, even if she was technically going out with this guy now.

"Anytime! Well, not really. I don't want you running off all the time, but you know what I mean!" She could almost hear him blushing as he stumbled around for the right words. "So! Um… I mean, I was wondering if… this Friday, maybe a movie… or something 'd be nice… or if you're not into movies that's cool but uh…"

"That'd be great." She said, cutting him off from further embarrassment. "A movie would be nice."

"Oh! Great! I'll pick you up at seven then, kay?"

"I'll be ready." She promised. They said their goodbyes, and she hung up, turning to face Mei's giant grin.

"Gotta date sis?"

"Shut up." She snapped, turning a dark red. There was a small pause before she added a mumbled, 'Yes.' Making Mei squeal with delight.

"I just _knew _you'd agree in the end! He just adores you!"

"That's what annoyed me."

"But now?" She prodded, looking hopeful. "You realized he'd an absolute sweetie?"

"I realized he's not a complete jackass." Ly gave her little sister a glance that clearly said, 'Good enough?'

"Alright, alright! I'll leave you be. Still, what're you going to tell Mo…" She stopped herself. "Carol? You know she's gonna find out we weren't at school. And though your absence won't come as a surprise, I refuse to get in trouble for your bad habits. I don't want to tell them you disappeared."

Ly sighed, staring at the ceiling. "Just tell them there must've been an error in the attendance."

"For all four classes?" Mei didn't sound convinced.

"Yep. Just go with it. It's you we're talking about here, remember? They'll buy anything you give them."

"Samyan always hated it when you said stuff like that."

Ly winced at their brother's name, but tired not to let Mei see it. "Whatever. It's the only excuse that'll work, so use it."

The smaller girl shrugged, and left, as Ly headed back to her room. Hours of sleep, and she was still exhausted.

The next morning, Ly was up and ready even before Mei. "Excited for school?" Her sister asked with a smile.

"A little." She admitted, wolfing down her cereal. "Can't figure out why."

"Isn't it obvious? You're in love, and you just can't wait to see Alfred!" Mei sighed dramatically, making Ly scowl.

"Stop being such a romantic. It's not like that at all."

"Denial is the first step to acceptance!"

"Shut up!"

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"Hey Matt?"

"Hmm?"

"What am I gonna say to Ly? I asked her out and everything but I just don't know what to talk about with her now! Help me!" He begged, flashing his favorite kicked-puppy look towards his twin, who just sighed, trying not to look.

"Just be a less obnoxious version of yourself. Think you can handle that?"

"You know I-wait, I'm obnoxious?"

"Very."

Blue eyes widened in mock horror as Matthew tried desperately to ignore him and read. "How can you say such cruel things when I'm begging you for help?" For once, he was being serious; he really didn't want to screw things up with Ly, not when they were as incredibly fragile as they were.

Putting the question aside, the younger looked at his watch, and jumped up. "Time to go lover-boy. I'll drive."

"You are a horrible brother, you know that?"

"You wound me."

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"Well, look who decided to show up! And here I thought we were rid of you. Where were you off gallivanting this time Jones?"

"Relax would you? I was gone for a day!" Al quickly defended, raising his hands as a shield between him and Kale, who was scowling darkly at him.

"Well you missed your detention we had planned to finish making up for all those lates last week, so you'll have to join your friend again today."

The blond shrugged, and wandered over to his seat. He really didn't mind an extra hour with Ly, even if it was under the satanic eye of their teacher. Matthew rolled his eyes; thankful for once that he had gone unnoticed. He really didn't want to be questioned for missing the previous day. He had just sat down himself, when someone poked his shoulder roughly. "Hey Birde."

"What do you want Gil?"

"What's up with your bro? He's in a pretty good mood for someone going to detention…again. Is he some sort of masochist?"

"Really, I've been asking myself the same question for years. But as for now, he gets to spend time with Ly."

"He's still not trying to get a date is he? He'll get himself killed!"

"Actually, they've got a date planned for Friday night."

"You're kidding… please tell me you're kidding." The albino murmured weakly.

Beside them, Alfred slammed his head on his desk, and whimpered mournfully, "Why is it only Wednesday?"

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Thanks for reading!

Sorry this took awhile to get out. Life got in the way, and I was suffering from writer's block. Even as it is I'm not too happy with this chapter, but I wanted to get it out, so here, and enjoy!


	6. Chapter 6

As Al walked into the class once more, he stopped, looking at Ly who was sitting in the back like usual, and then burst out laughing. After a few confused seconds, she joined in. "It's a little early in a relationship to be reminiscing huh?" He joked, sitting down next to her, and sliding the desks together.

"Definitely."

The room fell silent when Kale walked in, and still grinning, Alfred pulled out the notebook, which was slowly becoming familiar, and started writing.

_I'm jacked for Friday._

Ly raised an eyebrow at that. Though she'd never admit it, she was pretty excited too. _You could've planned it for tonight or tomorrow you know dumbass. It's cheap night at the theatre tomorrow too._

_But I'm treating so you don't need to worry!_ He was smirking at the way she still called him dumbass. Some things would never change.

The notebook went back and forth between the two for about a half an hour, before the paper ran out. Al blinked in surprise, while Ly laughed quietly, and pulled out a book to read. The blond couldn't help but feel a little left out. However, for the moment, he was perfectly happy just to watch her for the time being. He smiled as she started to blush, noticing him, and just to see what would happen, he reached over and placed his hand over hers that wasn't holding the book.

"Wha-?" She started to ask, but stopped herself, and went back to looking down, but this time, she was bright red.

Alfred was very pleased.

{}}{{}

"Dumbass! You knew I couldn't do anything without getting in trouble!" Ly hissed as soon as they were out, smacking the American upside the head.

"If you really didn't want me to hold your hand, you would've pulled away." He said matter-of-factly.

"Shut up." She muttered. "Ask next time."

He laughed at that. "_May _I hold your hand then?" This earned him another smack.

"You know what I mean!"

"Actually, I really don't. Care to explain?"

Instead of answering, she glanced out the window, and murmured, "My ride's here." And with that, she quickly kissed his cheek, and left.

Al pressed a hand to his face in what can only be described as total bliss. "She…kissed me…yes!" He cheered, fighting very hard not to run after Ly and kiss her back. He knew very well this would likely piss her off. So he settled for watching her go.

When Matt came to pick him up, he was practically skipping to the car. "Someone looks happy." The younger noted. "Something good happen in detention?"

"I held her hand, and she kissed me on the cheek Matt! Not even a first date, and I got to first base! Can you say that?"

"Afraid not. But first base, wow. That's good for you seeing as there was a time when I didn't even think you'd get up to bat."

"You're heartless, having no faith in me at all. You're just the worst."

"Tu me blessé." He sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Stop it with your satanic Canadian-ness! It's not fair to be mean in French!" Al whined.

"If you want, I can insult you in Russian or Italian too." Matt said with a grin that really didn't suit his gentle personality. "I know a few good Finnish ones too."

"Get me out of this car!" He wailed, reaching for the door, only for his brother to hit the lock, laughing wildly.

{}}{{}

"Do I look good Mattie?" Alfred asked, panicking as he did up his jacket, and checking for about the fifth time to make sure he had everything.

"You're gonna be fine. You go see the movie, then you take her home, or for dinner if she's hungry after." Al opened his mouth to ask something, only for his brother to interrupt, "No, McDonalds does not make a good dinner. If you're _that _opposed to going somewhere nice, at least settle for Swiss Chalet or something."

"Got it!" He grinned, flashing a quick thumbs up. Honestly, Matt could be so pushy when it came to stuff like dining. He'd spent too much time with their cousin Francis; it was like casual didn't exist for them. "So you'll wait up for me right? So I can call if I need help?"

"Whatever."

"Knew I could count on you!" He cheered, reaching for the door. "Wish me luck!"

"Don't get yourself killed."

{}}{{}

"You're wearing _that_?" Mei said in vague disgust as Ly reached for the door to go wait for Al. "You're going on a date, not a rock concert!"

"He doesn't care Mei."

"But I do! What if he takes you to dinner somewhere fancy?"

"Like he'd ever do that! We'll probably end up at McDonalds or something." She muttered, rolling her eyes.

"At least change into non-torn jeans." The little brunette pleaded. If one thing was extremely important to her, it was style, and she would just never let Ly live it down if she went on her first official date in ripped jeans, and a tee shirt. So the older girl gave in, and let Mei pick something out.

"Just no pink, lace, frills, or any combination of the three." Not that she owned anything like that, but with Mei, you never knew what she'd find.

"Got it!" Mei cheered, snapping a mock salute, and making a beeline for the closet.

"This is gonna be a long night." She groaned quietly.

{}}{{}

In the end, Ly flopped into the car wearing jeans that were all intact, and a turtleneck Mei had somehow unearthed from the bowels of her closet. "Y-you look nice." Al stammered, trying to focus on the road as they left.

"Thanks. So what movie are we gonna see?"

Al was about to suggest the new horror movie, but remembered Matthew hammering it into his head that they could see _any_ genre but horror. So instead, he shrugged. "Whatever looks best I suppose."

"Sounds good." There was a moment of silence, while each tried to figure out what to say. They ended up pulling into the theatre parking lot without having said a word. But Ly's face lit up when she saw the very same horror movie Matthew had forced Al to promise not to see, was going to start in fifteen minutes. "Let's see that one."

"Okay!" He agreed, without having even glancing what she was pointing at. He pulled out a twenty and handed it to her. "You go get tickets, I'll get popcorn. What do you want to drink?"

"Just get a large of whatever and we'll share." She said casually, already heading off to the counter.

Al felt the tips of his ears grow warm. "Share huh?" He murmured. Still with a smile touching the corners of his mouth, he headed to the concessions center, and ordered a large popcorn, and an extra large coke. The brunette behind the counter handed him his order with a wink.

"Enjoy the show."

"First date and you're already flirting with other girls? You must have no shame, dumbass." Ly said suddenly.

"What? No it's nothing like that I-." He stopped when he realized she was laughing. "Geez you scared me."

"Don't worry about it dumbass, you'll be a lot more scared after this." She said, handing him a ticket.

The blond laughed nervously. "Sounds great." This was going to be a memorable first date, that much he could tell.

{}}+{{}

Phew. It is done… onwards! To chapter 7! I'm struggling through a little writer's block; I really hope it doesn't show too much. Reviews make my life so much happier!

So what should happen on the date? We all know Alfred's going to freak out like a little girl, but what about dinner and the aftermath? What shall happen? =3


	7. Chapter 7

Alfred F. Jones was not a coward. He just happened to quiver in fear whenever horror movies, thunderstorms, heights, spiders, snakes, cold, deep water, sharks, the woods, and people more than ten inches taller than him, were even brought up in conversation. No, he wasn't a coward at all.

This is what the blond had to tell himself as he followed Ly through the theatre to pick seats. They ended up right in the middle, of the fairly empty room. So fewer people would hear him scream, but one of them would be the first girl he'd ever really, dare he think it, loved. Life wasn't going his way.

He nearly jumped a mile when the movie opened with a bloodcurdling scream. Scratch that, life _really _wasn't going his way. "You okay Al?" Ly asked.

"Fine." He breathed. "Just took my by surprise is all."

She grinned. "Isn't it great?"

"Perfect." God this was going to be a long two hours.

{}}{{}

Despite his resolve, he jumped every time dramatic music started, and started whimpering the minute the first person died. (It was the whore, it's _always _either the whore or the racial minority) "You sure you're okay? You look really tense Al." Ly's voice was thick with concern, which was enough to calm him down just long enough to reply.

"I'm okay, want more popcorn?"

She laughed at that. "It's still half full dumbass."

"Oh yeah." He blushed in embarrassment. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom. Be right back." And with that, he leapt to his feet, practically sprinting for the door, just as some guy got his arm slowly torn from his body. He calmed himself down in the hallway, and whipped out his cellphone, calling his brother.

"_Everything okay Al?"_ He'd picked up on the first ring; bless that darling of a brother, he really was an angel.

"No, I let Ly pick, and we're at the horror movie."

"Crap… uh, I'm thinking…"

"Think faster!" He hissed, glancing back to make sure Ly wasn't coming out to check or something.

"Well, go to the bathroom, take your time, and when you get back, ask what you missed, her explanation should distract you for long enough to grow a pair and last till the end, okay?"

"If you were here, I would give you a couple black eyes, and then hug you bro. See you in a couple hours."

"Have fun."

He hit 'end' and headed for the washroom. He really did have to go now. Taking his brother's advice, he took his sweet time washing his hands, choosing to use the hand-dryer instead of paper towels, and tying his shoes a couple times before making his way back to the theatre.

"What took you so long? You missed the best parts."

"Sorry, there was a line." He said quickly. "So what'd I miss?"

"I'll tell you later." She replied absent-mindedly, making a shushing gesture as she turned back to the screen.

Al swallowed hard, trying not to really see what was on the screen, but of course, that didn't last long, and ten minutes later, a scream escaped his lips, and he slammed his eyes shut in fear.

He opened them cautiously at the sound of Ly's quiet laughter. "Are you _scared_ Mr. Hero?" She managed through fits.

"No way!" He protested, only to scream again as some dark, shadowy thing tore a girl in half. This made Ly laugh even harder.

Sighing, he slumped back into the seat, pouting at his misfortune of being caught. So much for Matt's plan.

{}}{{}

"I'm sorry for laughing at you." Ly apologized softly, though from the looks of the smile she was desperately fighting to control, she wasn't sorry at all. "But you should've told me you didn't like horror movies."

The blond muttered something about thinking she'd wanted to see the one next to it. A pathetic excuse, but an excuse nonetheless. "So you wanna go get food?"

"Where to?"

This had him stumped. He decided it was the right thing to tell the truth at this point. "Matt told me I should go with something fancy, but I don't know…"

"You're asking your _younger _brother for advise?"

"He's only younger by a couple minutes, it doesn't count."

"Sure it doesn't. But if you can't make your own decisions, I know a nice little place not too far from here."

He grinned at the sudden sincerity in her voice. "Lead the way."

"Not before I kick your ass at air hockey." She decided, pointing to the small arcade off of the theatre.

{}}{{}

Ly ended up directing him to a small family diner in a quieter area of town. They ordered, and once the waiter left, Al had to ask. "How do you know about a place like this? Doesn't seem like your thing at all."

"No. I came here a lot with my brothers and Mei when we were little."

"Brothers?"

"Three. Samyan and Yao were the oldest, and then Im Yung Soo. We all got separated about seven years ago. Foster system sucks like that."

"So are they still in the area?"

She shrugged. "They didn't leave the state, that much I do know. But other than that, they could be anywhere, and we'd never know. But I'm lucky enough that I could stay with Mei. The couple we've been with almost didn't want me."

"Like anyone could turn you away."

"Flattery will get you nowhere Jones."

He feigned deep pain. "I'd never think to…" He broke of as the food appeared, making his entire face light up. "Fast service." He commented, digging in.

"It's sad when the only time you smile like that is when food is involved." Ly couldn't help but feel jealous of the burger. He hadn't even smiled like that when she'd agreed to go out with him. Food clearly took a larger home in his heart.

"It's a necessity. Everything else in life is just a bonus." As usual, he was completely unaware at how much this hurt the girl across the table from him.

They continued eating, making light conversation, not really going into detail about anything. Al paid the bill, and took her home. "Thanks for dinner." Ly said quietly when they got to the house.

"Anytime." He said with a grin. "Hey me and Matt are heading up to Vancouver this winter. He's got _Canadian _friends to visit, and we're going skiing, and our parents might even show up if they're not too busy, so would you like to come?"

"Sounds fun. I'd love to." She smiled at him, and left the car, waving as she went. The living room light was still on, most likely Mei waiting to hear everything. So just to give herself something to tell the nosy girl, and maybe for other reasons, she turned back, opening the door, and leaned across the seat to kiss the unsuspecting blond. "Goodnight." She breathed once they'd broken apart.

"Night…" He answered vaguely, still in complete shock. He waited until she was in the house to pull out of the driveway, and head home, intoxicated enough with happiness that he'd fail a line test if the cops decided to pull him over.

{}}+{{}

Thanks for reading! Don't you hate it when you get eggnog that's more egg than nog?

Someone asked me this a little while ago, so I guess I should clear it up incase anyone else was wondering. Al, Matt, and Ly are all in grade eleven, which is why they can drive, so they're probably seventeen. I actually did a full layout of their classrooms, and placed ever single character into a grade and class even if they're never going to show up in this story, so don't worry, it's all figured out 'n stuff.

I'd have to say this is one of my favorite chapters so far, especially seeing as I suffered writer's block about halfway through, I just personally love the first paragraph =3

The 'G' on my keyboard is really stiff and I need to slam down on it to get it to work, so if a couple aren't there, let me know and I'll fix.

Reviews make life worth living… it's the little things that do…


	8. Chapter 8

Ly was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling of her bedroom. 'Did I really do that?' She thought in shock. After nearly a half an hour of Mei pestering for details, and Ly answering lazily, she'd been set free to go to sleep. Yet sleep couldn't find her. She just lay awake, replaying the kiss again, and again through her mind. She hadn't even given Al a chance to react.

{}}{{}

Said blond was now bursting though his door, grinning ear to ear. "And you told me to give up on Ly!" He yelled, pointing dramatically at his brother.

"Good for you." Matthew said, glancing up over the pages of his novel. "I take it she found you being a complete and utter crybaby to be endearing?"

"Guess so, 'cause she kissed me!" The American was practically glowing with joy. "Right on the lips too and she...might come skiing with us...this winter ." He added an innocent grin in hopes Matthew wouldn't care.

His brother leapt to his feet. "You invited her?" He was practically seething. Apparently his hopes were wrong.

"Kind of, yeah." He shrank back from the passive-aggressive rage slowly building up in the smaller form in front of him.

"So _you _can bring a date all the way up to _my _hometown, to see _my _friends, and _I _have to go looking incapable of also getting a date?" His violet-blue eyes were flashing.

"Come on! You know Ivan terrifies me! Ly doesn't scare you at all!"

"That's not the point! If I go alone, Carlos will hit on me again. I didn't mind not taking a date because I figured you'd be there to help me get out of those kinds of situations! But now you're going to be off doing God knows what with Ly!" He would have enjoyed watching his brother squirm if he weren't so pissed.

"Please Mattie? I'll still save you from Carlos, promise. What're heroes for?"

Oh God damn that puppy dog look he'd perfected. "Fine, she can come. Just…" He waved his hands in exasperation, and returned to his book and spot on the couch.

"Got it bro." Al grinned. "See you in the morning, I've got some researching to do."

"Research? You? Is the world coming to an end around us?"

Alfred just laughed and took the stairs two at a time, and flopped down on the chair in front of his computer, and started searching.

{}}{{}

"Ly! Phone!" Carol called up the stairs.

Tossing down the book, she rolled off the bed, and headed down the hall. "Coming!" She picked up the phone from the table where her adoptive mother had left it, and pressed it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Ly? I-is that you?" The voice from the other end was faintly familiar, but she just couldn't place it. "It's me… Samyan." Her breath caught at the name. How could she have forgotten? The faint hint of a Thai accent in his voice from being raised by their father. The warm tone. Al that was different was that it had dropped a pitch or two.

"How did you…?"

"Get this number? Funny story really, this hyper guy calls, says 'you want this number', reels off the digits, and hangs up. I didn't even know it was yours until I heard you…"

Ly had the sudden urge to kiss that stupid blond again. "That sounds just like him."

"Well, I'm so glad I got the number. We've been looking forever."

"We?" It felt too good to be true.

"Yao found me and Im Yung Soo last year, as soon as he turned eighteen. We've been looking for you and Mei, but the records were all closed."

She grinned as they both said at the same time, "Damn foster care system."

"I've missed you anh em."

"You too."

"So where are you? You're still in the country, right?"

"Yeah, just a couple towns over actually. Yao was saying we should come up to visit the two of you next weekend. How about the old place? Remember the restaurant?"

"Of course, I was just there last night."

"Great, tell Mei we say hi."

"Same goes for you." She was beaming as she hung up the phone. "Mei! Mei get up!" She burst into the room like it was Christmas morning.

The small brunette rolled over, groaning. "What?" She mumbled.

"Great news."

{}}{{}

"Who the hell shows up at the door at seven in the morning on a Saturday?" Matthew muttered, snapping open the lock. He blinked at Ly standing in front of him. "Morning?"

"Hey Matthew, is Al awake yet?"

"Are you kidding? Al, up on a Saturday? You'll be lucky if he's awake my noon."

"Who, me?" Al asked, popping his head around the corner. "Hey Ly!"

She smiled hugely, and Matt made himself scarce. Once he was gone, Al was met with a massive hug. "Thank you so much!"

His face lit up. "I got the right guy?"

Ly pulled away, holding him at arm's length. "How many guys named Samyan did you call?"

"A few… it's not really a common name…"

"So, I now might have a few random stalkers now?"

He looked at her with wide eyes. "But I'll be your hero and protect you from all of the creepy Asian guys!"

"Funny." She said, raising an eyebrow. "But I'll take it."

"Does this mean I get another kiss?"

"Not a chance Al." Instead, he got a quick pat on the cheek. "But you do get to meet my brothers next week."

"Like, meeting the family?"

The brunette shrugged. "I suppose. Yao is bringing the others up this weekend, and we're gonna hang out together. You should come."

"Sounds great. I'm really glad it worked out, and they got in touch with you."

A smile touched her lips again. "Me too. Thank you so much."

"Anything that'll erase last night from your memory."

"Oh no. That one I'm keeping for just in case I need blackmail. All I need to do is invite _all _your friends over for a horror-movie marathon."

His eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't."

"I know Kiku has a fairly extensive collection. Gil would never pass up a chance to mock you, and frankly, neither would anyone else." She was grinning now.

"And _you're _the one worried about stalkers?"

"Hey, your life is an open book. Any eighteen year old still in grade nine applied classes could tell me who you hang out with."

"Not like it'd be that hard to get anyone to give you information gorgeous."

This earned him a light kiss on the cheek, and a softer-than-usual farewell. He was grinning as she turned and headed back to where her car (borrowed from Carol) was waiting.

"Well played Jones. Well played indeed." Matthew was standing in the hallway to the kitchen. "If you keep this up, I don't have a chance in hell against Carlos this winter, because you'll be too busy getting laid."

"A man can dream Mattie." Al sighed dramatically, slinging an arm around his brother's shoulders, ignoring the wince. "And dream I will."

{}}+{{}

Thanks for reading… I was _this _close to throwing a title drop in that last sentence. If you could see me, there would be little space between my fingers… I was really close. But then I said to myself, 'self' I said, 'I will slap you if you do that' and so I did not… that is the end of my little tale. =D (He was originally going to say 'and dream I will, until she's mine)

Only now am I realizing that this title no longer makes any sense as she is already, technically, his… but there will be drama!

Stupid Fanfiction not allowing me to have Al say 'she might come skiing with us this winter' all as one jumbled word... I am not amused.

Reviews are my eternal motivation, and the one thing in life I love more than the fuzzy boot-slippers, Baccano DVD, and Big Bang Theory season three I received for Christmas.


	9. Chapter 9

"Do I look okay Matt?"

"That's about the tenth time you've asked that, and every time it's been the same answer, you look fine."

"Just fine?"

"You're more nervous than your first date with her!"

Alfred was plastering gel into his sandy-blonde hair, trying desperately to pin down the one wild cowlick that, until now, he'd always boasted that it made him look cool. Matthew had never seen his brother this tense, and to be honest, it made him a little nervous as well.

"Just tell me one more time if I'm okay."

"Good enough to impress, alright?"

He let out a shaky breath, and smiled. "Really?"

"Yes Al, really. Now get out there, and meet her family. Have fun." And with that, he pushed his brother out the door with one last reassuring smile.

{}}{{}

"You must be Alfred." Al quickly looked over the man standing in front of him. His skin had a similar darker hue to Ly's, but that was where the resemblance ended. His black hair was cropped, and spiked, and dark eyes, hidden behind glasses, were warm and alive, whereas Ly's were normally suspicious, or glinting with malice.

"Yeah, that's me. You are?"

"Samyan. You called me with her number?"

Al chuckled at the memory of frantically calling everyone with the name. "Definitely the weirdest thing I've ever done to impress a girl."

"By far. Come on, let's join the others."

As they were walking into the restaurant, the cowlick, which he'd worked so hard to keep flat, broke free from the gel, and flicked up back to its normal place. Samyan bit his lip to keep from laughing at the dark red shade the blond's face was quickly turning.

"Hey guys! You weren't too harsh on him, were you Samyan?"

"Of course not. Can't go scaring away your date, can I?"

"You could." She murmured with a shrug. "Come on Al, have a seat." Ly shifted over a little, earning a glare from Mei, who was a little squished against the wall as it was. "You've already met Samyan, but this is Yao, and Im Yung Soo."

The first guy, clearly the eldest, had the longest hair Al had ever seen on a guy, and his cousin Francis was pretty close. The second was all smiles, with an arm slung casually around Yao's shoulders.

Ly's siblings were all fairly accepting, and within minutes, they were chatting comfortably, and for once, Alfred F. Jones, more famous for his obsession with food without ever getting (visibly) fat than anything, didn't really notice what he was eating as they talked. "It's funny, for awhile, I was sure Ly was related to Kiku, you know, the guy in my English class?"

"He's Japanese, that's just racist." Ly laughed with a good-natured punch in the shoulder.

"You guys are all different." He pointed out.

"Funny story." Im Yung Soo said, moving quickly to explain before anyone else could. "Our mother was Taiwanese, and our dad was Chinese, but he spent a lot of time with Samyan in Thailand. Our grandmother on our dad's side was Vietnamese, and I was raised by our grandfather on mom's side in South Korea, before being sent here to the States."

Al blinked a few times, before smiling in embarrassment. "One more time please, my brain just died."

Giggling, Mei jumped to comply. "Our family's really messed up."

"Okay that I can understand."

"So, am I alone, or have any of you gotten a date?" Ly asked with a smirk.

"Well I don't know about Im Yung Soo, but Yao's hiding this amazing girl somewhere." Samyan said, grinning and patting his brother's cheek, which was rapidly turning red. "I even heard him muttering to himself about a ring!"

"And you weren't gonna tell us that?" Mei gasped, looking horrified. "Our oldest brother, going off with some woman we've never even met!"

Ly laughed and added on, "They're probably planning to elope, just so we won't have a chance to deny our blessings."

"No! Of course not!"

"He's in denial guys." Al said with a small shake of his head.

"You've seen this before?"

"Many times, the relationship usually ends rather tragically."

"Enough! Few of you can talk down my relationship you loners!" Yao huffed.

The others started laughing, and eventually, the longhaired man broke down and joined in, adding to the happy ring.

{}}{{}

"You know, I think they really liked you." Ly murmured as she walked Alfred out to his car.

"That's a relief. I was killing myself getting ready."

"No, no you were perfect. It was like you'd known them forever."

"Fantastic!" The blond breathed a sigh of relief, sliding into the driver's seat. "So, you looking foreword to the ski trip next month?"

"Yeah, it should be fun. Matt's okay with it, right?"

Al thought about the expression on his brother's face when he'd told him. Pissed off would've been an understatement. "He said he'll be thrilled to have you along. Better than spending two days in a car alone with me."

"Good. I'm glad he doesn't mind, since his date can't go."

He didn't want to tell her that he was the reason for that _can't_, so he just smiled, and kissed her lightly on the lips. "See you Monday."

"I'll be there." She promised.

{}}+{{}

Thanks for reading!

Gah! I did not like writing this chapter! *Slams head on laptop repeatedly* on the plus side, I do like my plan for the next chapter, Road trip!

Too many characters! And only now do I realize it's Im Yong Soo, not Yung, but seeing as I used the latter in my previous chapters, and I want to be consistent, I'm keeping it as is.

Reviews = happiness~!


	10. Chapter 10

"You set up there Al?" Matthew called, slamming the trunk of the car shut.

"Just about!" The American was adjusting the straps holding his snowboard and Matt's skis down. They usually took turns on each, depending on what they felt like using, and if they both wanted to snowboard, well, Matthew never failed at rock paper scissors. Ly was going to get rentals when they got to the chalet.

The brunette was already sitting in the car, rifling through their massive collection of CDs.

He decided the straps were on well enough, and hopped off the roof. Matt was just closing the driver's side door. Grinning, Al reached for the handle, which flipped up uselessly. It was locked. "Hay, Mattie! Wanna let me in?"

"What do you think Ly? Should we let him in?"

Laughing, Ly shook her head. "Drive you insane Canuck, drive!"

Matthew grinned in agreement, starting the engine, and pulling out of the driveway. Scowling, Al flipped him off and pounded on the window. But to no avail, as they pulled out, and started to creep slowly down the street, before speeding up and ducking around the corner.

"Let's wait for him here." Ly offered, peering out the back window. Sure enough, a few moments later, Al came charging down the street. The two burst out laughing again, and Matt kept on driving, pulling around the corner a second time, and stopping in front of their driveway.

"I…am going…to kill you." He gasped, flopping into the seat.

"Glad you could make it bro." Al wiped the smile off his brother's face with a swift smack upside the head.

Ly was still laughing as they drove from their residential street, and made their way to the highway, starting the trek northwest to Vancouver, B.C.

{}}{{}

"So, either of you two want to claim ownership of this?" Ly asked, holding out a CD for the others.

"Hey, Code Geass has an awesome soundtrack, and there is nothing to be ashamed from owning it." Alfred quickly defended.

"So it's yours."

"Hell no, it's mine." Matthew growled, snatching it blindly from her grasp. "He wishes it was his."

The two in the backseat gave each other a look before starting to laugh. From the rearview mirror they could see the driver was glaring at them. "Lighten up bro, I said it's awesome. No need to look like you're gonna take my lunch money."

Quickly, Ly dug further through the CDs, and blinked in surprise at what was hidden at the bottom of the pile. "Got any excuses for this one?"

"That's his I swear!" They both nearly screamed at the same time. Ly was holding a Justin Bieber CD.

"So you share it?" She asked with a smirk threatening to grow.

"No, it's our little cousin's. Francis' daughter Salina. They were up here last year, and she left it here. We figured bringing it up now would be a good idea." Alfred quickly explained, prying the case from her grasp, and reburying it under all their better music choices.

After a moment of silence, Ly went back to the pile, stacking her choices on the passenger's seat, while Al started digging through the cooler between himself and Ly, grabbing himself a coke. "You want anything?"

"Toss me a root beer, would you?" Matt called, holding out a hand.

"Wasn't asking you bro."

"Hand it over or I throw you out of this car and leave you."

"You wouldn't let him do that, would you Ly?"

"I don't know…I wouldn't have to pay for rentals…"

"Oh! Even you betray me." In surrender, the American passed his brother the can, and leaned against the window, trying to get some sleep.

{}}{{}

"Mattie! Come on, pull over! There's a gas station at the next exit, I gotta go, please, oh please!"

The blond smirked, and slowed as they approached said exit, only to speed past it, causing his twin to moan, and kick the back on his seat. "Strongest bladder decides the rest stops Al."

Eventually, they did pull over, but only after making Al suffer for about another hour. "I know you're mad because Al was allowed a date, and you weren't. But I think he gets it now."

"Yeah, I know. He just always assumes I'll be fine with everything."

"You're pouting now." She warned.

"Okay, okay." He offered a smile. "I'll be good."

Grinning, Ly patted his cheek lightly. "Thanks."

Al came running back to the car. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah. Another five hours in a car with my brother? Sounds like fun."

He stopped, halfway to closing the door. "You did something to my coke, didn't you?"

"No, you're safe."

"Who are you, and what have you done with my brother?"

Matthew and Ly were still laughing a few miles down the highway.

{}}+{{}

Thanks for reading!

I started out feeling awesome about this chapter, but then when I was almost done, I realized 'Hey, Matthew was being an ass.' So I gave him a reason, and made him better :)

Note: trying to write while watching 'Pillars of the Earth' is very difficult. Both are oh so time consuming.

Reviews, questions, comments, concerns, you all know how happy they make me! =3


	11. Chapter 11

As the trio crossed the border, Al had to keep his mouth shut from saying anything about there not being any snow, and what the hell, was Mattie sure they were in Canada, as his brother was looking rather testy again.

"So when does the snow start?" He winced as Ly asked the dreaded question absently, looking ahead as if expecting to suddenly see a wall of white.

"BC doesn't really get much snow except in the mountains." Matthew explained evenly, but there was an irritated flash in his eye as he did so.

Al ducked his head a bit lower. 'Please let the next couple of hours not be my last.' He prayed silently, going back to staring out the window.

{}}{{}

"Ah~! Alfred, Mathieu! It's so good to see you again!" The brothers had barely set a foot out of the car when they were dragged into a fierce hug, courtesy of their older cousin, Francis. The two were struggling to get out of his iron grip when Ly got out for a better view. "And who is this?" The lanky blond asked, dropping them rather ungraciously to move quickly over to her, and kiss her hand lightly. "Enchanté, mademoiselle."

"Back off Frenchie, that would be my girlfriend, so quite hitting on her." Alfred muttered, pulling him away.

Francis looked deeply offended. "I would never! I'm happily married might I remind you!"

"What? Since when?"

"Last August. I did send you a card. But mon belle Angelique could not join us…"

"Save the sermon for someone who cares."

"I can kind of see how you and dumbass are related." Ly said with a small laugh.

"Anyone wanna give me a hand over here eh?" Matthew called, throwing Al's suitcase at him. "Or are you girls just gonna stand over there and gossip all day?"

"Come on, let's go help the _Canadian_ seeing as we are on his turf now." Ly offered. "Who knows, he could send an army of moose after us."

{}}{{}

Salina was overjoyed to get her precious CD back, and rewarded the two blonds with sound kisses on their cheeks. Al looked at her gravely, pretending to be completely serious, and told her he couldn't accept her love because they were related, and besides, he had a girlfriend now.

Ly, Matthew and Francis were practically rolling around on the floor laughing. Salina didn't see what was so funny. "Like I'd ever love you!" She'd snapped, tossing one of her dark pigtails over her shoulder. "You've got an ego bigger than that stupid cowlick!" And to prove her point, she gave the cowlick a good tug, and flicked his nose.

"I don't know if I should be insulted, or grateful." The American murmured, still twitching his nose like a rabbit with ADD.

The family gathering was interrupted by a knock on the door, which Francis ran to answer. Moments later, he returned, followed by someone Matt had really been hoping to avoid. "Hey everyone!"

"Hey Carlos!" Al cheered with equal enthusiasm. As promised, he was shielding the path to his 'baby brother'. "You gotta meet my girlfriend! This is Ly." He was grinning as he pulled her by the waist.

"Yeah, nice to meet you." He said, trying to peer over Al to get at Matthew. "Um, Alfred, could you move?"

"Why? I'm fine here. Right Ly?"

She took one look at the desperate look in Al's eyes, and nodded. "Yup. Just fine here."

As Carlos and Al stepped side to side, the latter ensuring he always blocked the former's way, the smaller blond ducked out of the room, running up to the bedroom he and Al were sharing, and snapped the lock shut. He could hear through the door the conversation downstairs. "Mathieu wasn't feeling good earlier, he must've gone to lie down." Francis was explaining.

"Looked fine to me."

"Well let's just hope he's better for skiing tomorrow." Ly said evenly, ignoring the Cuban's point. "After all, we're meeting up with _his _friends. It'd suck if he missed them."

"Yeah but knowing them, they'd just show up anyway and make him go out to the hills anyway." Al laughed. "Seriously, they'd drag him out even if he were on his death bed."

After awhile, Ly yawned, saying it was late, and she needed sleep after ten hours in a car with 'those two', and Al followed like an eager puppy, only to be held back by his collar by a grinning Frenchman.

"Non, Alfred. I will not even allow you to be sleeping on the same level as that young girl."

"Come on Frenchie! I wouldn't have done anything! And since when do _you _keep people away from _l'amour _as you like to call it so much?"

"Might I remind you that I am in charge of you two until your parents join us? Your mother would have my head if I allowed you to share a room with a young lady not of your family!"

The blond pouted, but didn't protest any further as Francis handed him sheets, and they made up the big couch for him.

"Guess I'll be heading out then." Carlos mumbled, sounding dejected that he hadn't even gotten to say a word to Matthew. "See you tomorrow."

"See ya."

Al was still annoyed, even after everyone else had gone to sleep, and he was just glaring at the ceiling. It wasn't like he and Ly actually would've _done _anything. But he knew well enough that there was one little extra bedroom that wasn't in use just begging for him to sleep in that comfy warm bed.

"I hate the French." He muttered.

"I don't think he's too keen on you either." He looked over to see Ly standing in the entrance of the room in fleece pajama bottoms and a tank top. "I'm pretty sure out of the two of you, Francis likes Matthew better."

"Everyone likes Mattie better." He muttered.

The brunette flopped onto the floor next to him. "I don't."

"Aww. You have to say that. Besides, Mattie has a boyfriend, you don't have a choice."

She smacked him over the head. "It's not like you to be so down on yourself. What happened to Alfred F. Jones, hero to all except Russians, and apparently Cubans?"

He allowed himself a little smirk, which Ly caught by his cheeks, and pulled to a grin. "Le' go o' 'ah 'ace."

"Only if you promise to go back to being my Al."

"Ukay, ukay!"

Grinning, Ly let go with a snap, and kissed him softly. "I love _you _dumbass."

"Well what's not to love?"

"There he is!"

{}}{{}

The next morning, Matthew was up early, and walked in the main living area to find Ly on the couch, while Al was on the floor, snoring pretty loudly. Best he could figure they'd switched somewhere in the middle of the night, but that's all he'd ever know.

"Whatever am I going to do with those two?" Francis moaned once he got a look at them. "Especially seeing as your parents are going to be coming today."

At the very mention of the word 'parents', Al was suddenly wide-awake. "Whoa, whoa! I thought they _might _show up if they weren't busy, and they're _always _busy!"

"What's going on?" Ly mumbled, sitting up.

"Well, your mother called earlier, said they were getting on a plane from Halifax, and they'd be here at about lunch time." 

"That'll be great, I can meet your folks."

"No, nonono! I haven't gotten you ready, _I _haven't gotten ready."

"Come on Al, you make them sound out to be complete monsters."

"Hey! You've been going out with Ivan for, what, two years now?"

"Yeah, so?"

"You've never said a word to either parent-figure." He pointed out with a grin.

The Canadian's cheeks turned a light pink, and he pretended to be more interested in his toast. "Th-that's different!"

"No it's not! Mom told us when we were ten that they wouldn't judge if we turned out to be gay, or bi, or necrophiliacs or whatever!"

"She really said that?" Ly asked, surprised, and trying not to laugh.

"We have weird parents." The American explained shortly. "The point is, my brother is a hypocrite, and I have had no preparations to introduce you to them."

"He's scared." Francis called from the kitchen.

Suddenly, the door of the chalet opened, and a tall woman with thick, wavy blonde hair burst through the door. "Where are my boys?" She called.

"Francis!" Alfred nearly shrieked. "You said they'd be here at noon!"

"Don't blame your dear cousin. I called him from the airport here." She was hugging Alfred tight, and reaching for Matthew, who was doing his best to stay just out of her strong grip.

From the still-open door, another lanky figure walked in. A tall man with sandy brown hair, and bright blue eyes, nearly a mirror to Alfred's, walked in, dragging a suitcase behind him. "Nice to see you again."

The twins' mother suddenly glanced over at Ly, who was standing politely aside, and her grin faded. She and her husband might be away for work a lot of the time, but she knew every one of their friends. "Alfred!"

The blond seemed to shrink. "Y-yes mom?"

"Who is this?"

Ly suddenly understood why he was so scared of his own mother. This woman was terrifying.

{}}+{{}

Thanks for reading!

Wow that was a long(er) chapter (than normal)!

I get the feeling I'm going to have a lot of fun writing their mother! Well, reviews pretty please? Love you guys~!


	12. Chapter 12

Alfred was floundering under his mother's piercing gaze. Ly didn't think brown eyes could ever be described as piercing, but there they were, like chocolaty daggers. "She's, well…it's kind of like…we were just…it's not what you…oh please don't kill me mom!"

"You went off and got a girlfriend, without so much as mentioning it over the phone to either of us? We call you almost every night!"

"How do you know we're going - ouch!" He yelped as her long fingers grabbed his ear sharply.

"I'm your mother Alfred! You think I can't tell?"

Suddenly her fierce gaze turned warm again, and she wrapped both brothers into a chokehold-like hug, and was nearly bawling her eyes out. "My babies are growing up!" She wailed, stroking their hair. "And they're not even telling me!"

"She's in a forgiving mood Mattie, now might be a good time to inform her." Al whispered, jumping as his mother pushed them back, suspicion glinting in her eyes again.

"Inform me of what, Matthew?"

Now it was his turn to stammer, and search for an explanation, only for his mother to ruffle his hair kindly. "Don't worry, I know about your little friend. You couldn't keep it a secret forever. You two were way too quiet for normal boys whenever he was over."

Matt breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled.

"So, yeah. Mom, this is Ly." Al said quietly, wrapping an arm around the brunette's shoulders.

"It's so nice to meet you! I was beginning to worry about my son not having a girlfriend!" The tall blonde was shaking Ly's hand happily.

"Nice to meet you too ma'am."

"Oh please! Call me Lucille! I'm not that old yet!"

The twins watched, mildly amused at how well the two were getting along.

Until…

"So what kind of dirt does my son have on you that landed you as his girlfriend?" Lucille asked happily. A little too happily.

"Mom! There's no dirt, nothing! It's completely genuine!"

"Alfred, let the poor girl answer for herself, honestly." His mother snapped. Ly however, was laughing a bit too hard to make any understandable reply.

"You always twist it so it sounds like I'm completely incapable of making any human connections without having to threaten people!"

"You mean that's not how you got to be friends with Arthur, Kiku, and Gilbert?"

"No that's not how it is!"

Matthew leaned over to Francis, and grinned. "This is why I don't watch much TV when mom and dad are home." He whispered, making the Frenchman nod in understanding.

"So how's school been Matthew?" They both jumped at the twins' father's sudden question.

"Oh sorry dad! Didn't notice you were there!" It was obvious why he was so invisible in public. It had to be hereditary. "Yeah, school's been great." Speaking a little louder so the others could hear him, he added, "Al's been getting detention a lot though!"

It was like a light switch. One second, their mother was bubbly and cheerful, the next, severely pissed off. Back and forth, back and forth.

"You _what_?" She wailed, bringing a hand up to wipe away an invisible tear. "My eldest son, a horrible delinquent. Where did we go wrong Charles? Where?"

"I'm sure you'll figure it out Lucille." Charles muttered, pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Maybe we just weren't strict enough with them."

"Oh come on! I was in there only about twice."

"Three times." Matt called.

"The second time doesn't count! I went on purpose to ask Ly out."

Their mother was on her knees with her face in her hands, loud (fake) wails growing in volume with each passing moment. "And he's dating a delinquent too! They'll be married in jail, and I'll never see my grandchildren!"

"Come on ma! It's not like that."

"Mrs. Jones?" Ly asked hesitantly.

"Williams."

"Huh?"

The blonde looked up, dark eyes shining. "I go by my maiden name. So does my precious Matthew."

"How many times have I asked you not to call me 'precious' like I'm three years old?"

"Okay, Mrs. Williams?" Matt's exclamation went ignored. "We're not delinquents, I promise. We just don't get along well with Ms. Kale, okay?"

"You sure? You don't smoke, drink, do drugs, steal, get into fights, set fires, torture small animals, plant bombs, or plot to shot up your entire school?"

"Is it just me or did that list go from bad to worse, to completely over the top?" Ly muttered.

"She does that." Al replied, like it was nothing. "We're sure mom. It's nothing that severe."

"Why don't we all go skiing?" Francis cheered suddenly, finally deciding to break the tension. "That's what everyone's here for oui?"

"Sounds good!" Matthew chimed in. "Come on Al, let's go get dressed."

"Sure!" The twins raced up the stairs, leaving their very confused mother sitting on the living room floor.

{}}{{}

"So this is Whistler!" Ly gasped in awe, looking up the mountain.

"Uh, no. You really think we'd be able to get a mountain-side chalet beside Whistler at this time of year?" Matthew pointed out bluntly.

"That, and you can see the top from here." Al added. For once, the two also _sounded _like twins, both completely dead-panned.

"Ah! My little Alfred using common sense? It's a miracle!" Lucille sighed happily, clutching her husband's arm.

"It's the Canadian air." Matt said happily. "It does wonders for one's intelligence."

"I'm ignoring you both." The American decided, doing up the zipper on his ski jacket. It was a matching outfit, mostly white with a thick red stripe from right shoulder to left hip, and a smaller blue stripe in the middle. Matthew's was the same, but without the blue, and going from left to right.

"You two really are serious about this stuff aren't you?" Ly muttered. She was just in her green winter jacket and black ski pants.

"We've been coming up here for years. Since we were kids." Alfred explained, grabbing the snowboard before his brother could protest. "Come on, let's go get you some rentals, and we'll get going!"

The couple was met with a surprise when they returned, Ly carrying a slightly scuffed board, and come old boots. Their party was somewhat larger.

A tall teen, with spiky hair so pale it was almost white, was grinning at Matthew, and talking. "So where's your little bro Al? Don't tell me he didn't come this year?"

"Shut up Lars, you know it's me!"

"Well would you look at that, it _is _Mattie!" He ruffled the blond's fluffy hair, laughing.

"Well if it isn't our favorite Europeans!" Al cheered, pulling Ly foreword.

"Hello." The smaller blonde next to Lars turned, and smiled at the two. "Who's your friend Al?"

"This is my girlfriend, Ly. Ly, these are Mattie's friends, Lars, his sister Belle, Tino, Berwald, and…hey wait, where are the other three? You can't be the favorite Europeans if you're not all here!"

"They're visiting relatives back in Denmark." The smallest blond, Tino jumped to explain. "Sorry."

"Oh well, just don't get them mad, because if you will recall, we Americans are outnumbered here."

"I'll keep that in mind. Now come on, let's hit the slopes!"

Those with snowboards started walking to the lift, while the ones with skis quickly snapped into place, and started cross-country skiing, with Tino in the lead, laughing at how far behind everyone was.

"You damn Finn!" Lars yelled, trying to catch up, just making him laugh harder.

Just watching the scene, Ly was really happy she'd come.

{}}+{{}

Thanks for reading~!

I was right, their mother is very fun to write!

Sorry if you're sad that Denmark, Norway, and Iceland aren't here, I couldn't remember any fan names for them offhand, and I'm too lazy to do an Internet search for names, they might show up later if you want though.

I had to make the Finns being amazing skiers reference there, because really, EVERYONE in Finland owns skis, and uses them frequently. That, and when I was out skiing with a friend over the weekend, she called me a damn Finn for beating her from the chalet to the bunny hill, to the lift, and it amused me.

Reviews please, lest Finland beat them all in his amazing Finnish ways~!


	13. Chapter 13

Alfred sighed, and slumped back in the lift chair, watching his board dangle to the snowy mountain below. After a few minutes, he couldn't take it any more, and started wiggling around so he wasn't sitting still.

"Alfred Jones! Stop it!" Ly gasped, quickly turning pale. "It feels like we're gonna fall!"

"But I'm bored!" He whined. When do we get to the top?"

"Soon! Very soon! Just stop shaking the chair please!"

Looking at the panic in her face, he realized she hadn't been on a ski hill in awhile. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

Ly glanced sideways at him, untrusting, but eventually calmed down. When they got to the top, she was the first to yank up the bar, and get ready to jump off. Matthew and Lars were waiting just ahead, while Tino was looking eager to go. Berwald was holding the smaller teen back, and Belle was sitting in the snow, fixing the strap on her board.

"Aw! You didn't have to wait for us!" Al grinned, sitting down next to Belle. "How sweet of you."

"If Tino had his way, we'd all be at the bottom by now." Matt sighed. "Now let's go before he kills us with puppy eyes."

Said puppy-eyed Finn instantly brightened, and twisted to get out of the Swede's grip. "Come on, come on, let's go!"

" 'll r'ght." He conceded, releasing the blond, who cheered, and launched down the hill.

Not to be beat, Alfred moved to follow, pulling Ly behind him. "No, no Al! I haven't gone snowboarding in years, and this is a black diamond RUN!" Her yells turned to a scream as they started hitting jumps at faster, and faster speeds.

The American laughed, pulling her so she was beside him, maneuvering like an expert. "No worries, you're a natural!" He called over the wind. He was watching her face contorted with panic as she struggled to remain upright.

"Tree Alfred. Tree!" She yelled suddenly, forcing her hand from his so she could pull away from the thin pine on the hill. This ended with Al headed back towards the main hill, and Ly was in the thin strip of trees. "I'm gonna kill that idiot!" She muttered through gritted teeth, grabbing at branches to slow down. She emerged mildly unscathed, a little ways away from the lift.

"Hey! What'd I tell you? You're a natural." Al was grinning again, and reached for a high-five.

He got a slug in the face instead. "You idiot! I could've died!"

"But you didn't, and I'm so happy for that."

"You weren't even thinking!"

"Alfred Franklin Jones! Don't you dare make that girl cry!" They both jumped at the sound of Lucille Williams yelling from an open window in the chalet. She was watching the whole deal, glaring fiercely at her son.

"She's not crying! And you're not going to say anything about her punching me?"

"No girl punches her boyfriend without good reason, so you start apologizing or there will be hell to pay!"

After swallowing nervously, he turned around, and knelt facedown in front of Ly. "I'msorry! I'msorry! I'msorry!"

Ly was already laughing. "Your middle name's Franklin?"

He sat up, pouting, and brushing snow out of his hair. "I wanted to change it to Freeman 'cause it sounds cooler, but I'm not allowed to until I'm eighteen."

"Alright then. I think you've done enough groveling for now. Let's go before the others think we're dead and call the search and rescue crew."

So they sat on the chair lift again, watching the other people speeding down the hill, pointing out those with awesome skill, or even just really cool hats or outfits, and either encouraging or mocking the people who fell.

They'd lost track of the others, but really, skiing and snowboarding are individual sports. After awhile, the only thing Ly and Alfred were doing together was riding the lift.

{}}{{}

"Last run before lunch, okay?"

"Sure! I'm gonna do that black diamond run, you wanna come too? I might even take your bush trail!"

She snorted, and pushed his head into the bar beside him. "Dream on! The first time was luck. I'll wait at the bottom, okay?"

"I'll beat you there." He teased, hopping off.

Rolling her eyes, Ly headed in the opposite direction, sticking to the main hill. She was definitely getting the hang of this again, swerving in and out of other people, but still not daring to hit any jumps off to the side.

Dark eyes glanced around the bottom, and she smirked triumphantly. "I beat him!" She murmured happily.

"Hey! Ly, right?" She turned around to see Belle slowing to a halt beside him.

"Yeah. So you come around here often?"

She giggled, and shook her head. "No, I live with my boyfriend in Belgium, but me and Mattie go way back, so I always make sure to come up here every winter."

"How far is 'way back'?" She asked curiously.

"Well, in grade eight, he did a year of schooling in Belgium to practice his French, and Lars and me were the host family. My parents were worried I'd hit on him. You know, I was in grade twelve, he was cute and innocent but… they didn't count on having to worry about Lars."

Ly paused, letting it sink in, before turning bright red. "Oh! Well then…"

Belle laughed brightly. "You should see your face!"

Quickly deciding to change the subject, she looked back up the hill. "Have you seen Al?"

"Huh? No, I haven't. That's odd. Maybe he went by when we were talking."

The brunette shook her head. She had a bad feeling. "I'm going to go look for him, okay?"

"You want me to come too?"

"No, just let the others know where I've gone."

Belle nodded, and picked up her board, heading back to the chalet. Even from this far of a distance, Ly could smell the burgers Francis was grilling on the porch. Those poor people who were just here for a morning of skiing, having to smell that, knowing they weren't going to get a bite.

She shook her head. She had to focus. That stupid blond had probably gotten himself killed or something.

{}}{{}

She moved slowly through the trees, going from tree to tree, so she could stop, and call Al's name a few times. She was about to call it quits when she saw where his board skidded, and the track was lost in the trees. Panicking, she quickly unlatched her feet from the board, and ran to find him.

"Al! Where are you?" Ly shouted. "Come on dumbass, this isn't funny!"

His board was lying on its side, and there was a lump under the snow beside it. Breathing a shaky sigh of relief, Ly ran to uncover him, and check his pulse.

"Just out cold." She murmured to no one in particular. "Thank goodness. Your mom would probably kill me if you died."

She quickly slung his arm around her shoulder and started to heave him up, board and all. Matt had not lied when he said his brother was heavy. Ly nearly buckled under his weight, but kept moving. When she got to her board, she considered leaving it, but then again, it was a rental, so she placed the extra weight down so she could quickly reattach herself.

If it was hard going through the trees the first time, it was absolute torture with a heavy American practically on her back. An extra two hundred pounds (with jacket heavy clothing of course) of dead weight did not make life any easier.

Lars and Berwald were waiting at the bottom to get him to the chalet. "Bells told us you were looking for Al." Lars muttered, taking the weight off of her. "Figured you'd need a hand."

Ly smiled gratefully at him, and followed the two, wiping the thin layer of sweat off of her forehead. "I'm putting him on a diet after he wakes up."

The Swede next to her smiled a little. Just enough to be kind of really scary. How that Tino could stand being near that guy at all hours of the day, she would never figure out.

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Thanks for reading~!

Yeah, I was either going to have Matthew or Alfred run into a tree and, well, Al is always the easier target. Plus it adds a little bit of 'Oh no!' to the series (at least that's how I see it)

So this is the hill they're on (remove the spaces...I hate FF formatting, it's very annoying)

http:/ www. saulttourism .com /Userfiles /Image /Gallery /Searchmont /SEARCHMONT004 .jpg

Yeah, my mind kept seeing Searchmont, which is in Ontario, even though I said they were in BC… Didn't think that one through. Al crashes kind of on the upper far left area, which is where all the black diamond runs are, so he and Ly would've been on the double lift… just thought I'd let you guys in on the visuals that run through my head whilst I write =3

Reviews please! Alfred's life depends on it (muahaha!)


	14. Chapter 14

By the time Alfred gained consciousness, both Ly and his mother had stopped being terribly worried, and were now focused on being pissed off at him for being an idiot. He was surprised to see them glaring at him when he woke up. "What'd I do this time?"

"Why'd you go alone through something like that?" Lucille howled, throwing herself over her son. "You couldn't have waited for Lars or your brother after lunch?"

"What did I miss?" He asked in shock.

"You hit a tree dumbass." Ly snapped.

"Oh." He paused for a second, before grinning. "Awesome."

"No! Not awesome! You need all the brain cells you can get! Why'd you go and kill them all?" She growled, putting both hands over his head to prove her point. "And to top it all off, I had to drag you down the mountain! Do you have any idea how fat you are?"

"I'm not fat!" Al cried indignantly. "It's all muscle!"

"Either way, you weigh about as much as a baby whale!"

"Oh Charles, it really is true love." Their mother sighed happily, watching to two argue. "We're not going to die without grandchildren after all!"

Upon hearing that, both Ly and Alfred stopped yelling long enough to turn faintly red. Matthew laughed at the sight, and felt an urge to give his mom a huge hug. "You're great, you know that?" He said brightly.

Lucille looked mildly offended. "Of course I know! You're just noticing this now Matthew?"

Ignoring his mother, Matt leaned over and smacked his brother lightly on the head. "By the way, Carlos was over here, and I had to fend him off by myself because you're an idiot who can't tell a tree from snow, _and _I saved you three burgers from the ones Francis and Salina made, so you owe me double."

The American groaned and lay back down on the couch. "How many 'owes' does this make?" He asked, as if really worried about the answer.

"Thirty-four."

"No wait! Thirty-three for that jackass prank you pulled when we were leaving! I nearly died running around the block."

"But I did let you in, _and _that run helped you lose weight, so actually, it's more like thirty-five, thanks for reminding me."

In a desperate attempt to change the subject, Al looked quickly around the room, and frowned. "Where're the Europeans?"

"Lars and Belle headed back to the hill for awhile, and Tino and Berwald are going into the sauna for a bit before they come for supper."

"We've got a sauna here?" He asked stupidly.

"Hey mom, I think we'll have to check him for a concussion again."

"No need for that bro, I just have better things to do than sit naked and sweat surrounded by other men, it's kind of creepy, and I don't like taking your styles away from you Mattie."

Face blank, The Canadian walked calmly over to his brother, and smiled brightly.

And then punched him in the face.

"My nose! You broke my Goddamn nose you stupid Canuck!" He howled, pressing his hands around the rapidly swelling skin.

"Sorry Al, but you kind of asked for that one." Ly said, shrugging.

"Just get me a friggin' ice pack!"

"Now there's something I'm more used to hearing around here! Good to know a little tail hasn't changed you guys at all!" Everyone in the room looked up to see three new faces peering in the doorway. The tallest guy, who'd spoken walked in, grinning broadly, followed by two smaller teens, both with blank expressions.

"Hey! When'd you guys get here?" Matt asked, showing no indication that he'd just punched his twin square in the face, likely breaking his nose. "Tino said you guys were visiting relatives."

"Well we were, but when Lars called and said Al had a girlfriend…I had to see it for myself. Besides, the whole gang hasn't been together for ages."

Ly blinked in surprise. What it really that odd for Alfred to have a girlfriend that these three were willing to book a cross-Atlantic flight at the last second just to see for themselves?

"It's not broken." Francis was saying, patting said blond's cheek in mock concern. "Now go say hello to your friends, oui?"

"Yeah, yeah." He stood up, and walked over to where the three were standing with Matt. "Hey guys, this is Ly. A girlfriend in the flesh. And these, the final pieces of the favorite Europeans, are Freyr, Andreas, and Mattie the second!"

"The second?"

The tall Dane grinned again, and wrapped an arm around Matthew's shoulder. "Mathias, Matthew. Both Mattie!" He explained brightly. "But never let them fool you, I'm definitely the first."

"I'll remember that." Ly promised. "I'm surprised you've got so many friends from other countries Al."

"Are you kidding? They're all my friends, remember? Al would go and offend them all in two minutes flat." Matthew said with a smirk

"I'm not that bad, am I?"

The shortest of the three, Freyr, looked coldly at the American. "Let's just put it this way, if it weren't for Matthew, I would have thrown you into an active volcano by now."

"I'll second that!" Andreas added cheerfully. "And add the force-feeding of Freyr's best fish recipes!"

"No!" He gasped in mock horror. "Anything but that!" Then he jumped to his feet on the couch, and pointed at the two dramatically. "But I've suffered through the cooking of the one and only Arthur Kirkland! Nothing you do can ever parallel that terror!"

"Lie down you big idiot. We can't have you passing out on his or something." Ly said, pulling at his t-shirt.

"Yeah, don't let Artie hear that either. He'd do worse than we could ever imagine." Matt added brightly.

"When you boys are quite finished threatening my Alfred…" Lucille said sharply, returning from the dining room. "Francis wants to know if you three are staying for supper. Charles and Salina went out and bought a ton of salmon this afternoon, so it's no bother, so don't start being polite like that, okay?"

"Jà Lucille." Freyr answered, with a ghost of a smile touching his mouth. "We'd love to."

Once the other fours had returned, the table in the dining room became way too small, and so they ended up spreading out all over the chalet. Lucille, Charles, Francis, Salina, Tino, and Berwald stayed at the table, while Al sat in the middle of the couch with Ly and Matthew on either side, and Lars and Mathias on the chairs on the opposite wall. Finally, Freyr, Belle, and Andreas were perched on countertops in the kitchen.

"So Ly, how're you liking the 'Great White North' so far?" Lars asked casually, attacking the fish on his plate.

"It's alright. Really it's not that much different than home." At that, Matt scowled darkly, making the other three laugh.

"It's completely different." He sniffed. "For one thing, we're more prone to stabbing people who lump Canada in with America. We're also friendlier."

Ly grinned at the contradiction, and leaned around Al to pat the Canadian's head. "Sorry Canuck, I'll remember that from now on."

"You've also got attack trees up here." Al muttered bitterly, rubbing his forehead gently.

"Anyone want ice cream out here?" Francis asked suddenly, poking his head around the corner. Alfred and Matthew both instantly lit up and nodded eagerly, making the Frenchman chuckle as he passed out four bowls.

Just as Al reached for his, it was snatched from his reach by Ly, who stuck out her tongue at him and grinned. "You want brain freeze on top of a concussion? Try again."

The blond stuck out his bottom lip, which trembled lightly. "Come on, please?" He begged.

Rolling her eyes, she dug a scoop onto the spoon, and held it out. "Say 'ah'."

Instantly, he obeyed, closing his eyes for good measure, so he missed Lars, and both Matts leaving the room, and his mother peering around the corner, practically swooning at the adorable-factor of the scene.

When the bowl was empty, Ly turned to hers, and wolfed it down before it melted, while Al sighed contently, and flopped down, resting his head in her lap. "Thanks Ly. I wasn't sure I could feed myself."

"Shut up." The brunette mumbled, blushing lightly.

Suddenly, Salina came storming from the dining room, pouting. "Stupid adults!" She muttered as she walked past the two.

"What's up with her?" Ly wondered aloud.

"Oh, they probably pulled out the booze. This should be fun."

"They let you drink?"

"Nope, two more years still."

"You're seventeen Al, you have to wait four years. Did hitting the tree make you forget first grade math too?"

He grinned brightly up at her, and shook his head. "Not in Canada we don't! Two years till I'll have my first beer, as far as my parents know. They're too naïve for their own good. But yeah, the drinking age is nineteen up here."

"So that means…"

"Yup, everyone except for us will be wasted pretty soon. Well, us, Mattie, Salina, Belle, and Freyr. Just wait until you see Tino drunk, it's pretty funny."

Curious, Ly shoved Al's head away, and stood up to look into the dining room. Lucille was already red-faced, and laughing, even though she'd only had two glasses of wine. Tino and Berwald were going head-to-head in a drinking contest, while Mathias and Lars mixed the shots. Matthew was sitting on a stool dragged in from the kitchen, watching the contest intently with Andreas, Freyr, and Belle.

From the looks of things, Tino was winning, oddly enough. Berwald might be three times his size, but the smaller blond definitely had a larger pile of empty shot glasses next to him. "Where'd they get all those glasses?"

"Some are supplied in the chalet." Al explained, appearing beside her. "We all chip in, and bring the rest."

Ly nodded in understanding, and turned back to the match. Berwald gave a wave of defeat, and smirked as the Finn acknowledged it, and slammed his head down on the table, raising his arms in a cheer. "En koskaan menettää!"

"What'd he say?" Ly asked the American, who just shrugged.

"He never speaks in English after the fourth shot."

"Jos sota olisi ollut juominen peli, nämä venäläiset ovat olleet käynnissä jo ovella!"

"Okay, that time he was talking about the war."

"The war?"

"Winter war. I dunno what it was, but he talks about it a lot when he's drunk. Apparently his grandfather was in it, so it means a lot to him. "

With one last triumphant grin, Tino rolled his head to one side, and fell asleep.

"Alright, I think that's enough, don't you dear?" The twins' father decided, nudging his wife gently, as she was drifting off as well. "Berwald, you can get him to the hotel alright, can't you?"

The Swede nodded shortly, and threw Tino over one shoulder with one hand, and reaching for their coats with the other.

"Yeah, we should be hitting the road too." Belle said, poking Lars in the side of the head a few times.

"Alright. We'll be off too then." Andreas mumbled. They all left as one large group.

"We'll see you tomorrow, right?" Matthew called after them.

"Probably! See you Mattie two!"

After they were gone, Al turned to Francis with a pleading look in his eye. "Can I have a bed tonight?"

"Are you insane? And leave your parents on the couch?" The lanky blond replied, pointing to said couch. "That is your best friend for the next few days, now go to bed, maintenant! All of you!"

Ly waved happily as she ran up the stairs to bed. "See you in the morning Al! Sleep tight!"

He grumbled loudly as he started pulling out blankets and pillows. "I'm wounded! I should get a bed!" He called up the stairs, and then pouted when he didn't get a reply.

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Thanks for watching~!

See, I said I might bring in the others, and today, I was feeling less lazy, so I searched up some fan names for them.

_Translations: (Warning, I use google translate, which I don't trust at all, and I really hate using it, but it's better than nothing…It's really sad that I used it for Finnish, when my mummu was right upstairs at the time…I just don't think I could ever tell her why I need to know how to say this stuff…)_

En koskaan menettää – (Finnish) I never lose

Jos sota olisi ollut juominen peli, nämä venäläiset ovat olleet käynnissä jo ovella – (Finnish) If the war had been a drinking game, those Russians would've been running for the door.

Maintenant – (French) Right now

And I just had to throw in the drinking age line, Candians definately have the social advantage, seeing as pot is practically legal too :P

Reviews would be awesome seeing as I'm sick right now… I'm not guilting you at all.


	15. Chapter 15

The farewells were fine with most of the group, until it came to Matt and Al's mother, who was practically sobbing as she hugged the two. "I'm gonna miss my babies so much!"

"Mom! You're just flying ahead of us!" Al protested, attempting to squeeze from her grasp. "We're all having Christmas together, and you and dad don't have to leave again until after New Years!"

"But I never get to see you two! A few hours to a mother is like an eternity!"

While she went on fussing over the twins, Ly made her rounds, either giving hugs or high-fives (or in the case of Berwald, a good handshake.)

"It was nice meeting you." Ly said, giving Belle a hug.

"Same. It gets dull being around just the guys for so many years. And it's hard to have too much fun when Lucille's like a hawk around her boys."

At the sound of her name, Lucille turned, and bulldozed Belle into a hug, somehow dragging Lars and Tino along. "Thank you so much for being such good friends to my boys!"

"You don't have to thank us every year Mrs. Williams!" Tino murmured, patting the blonde's shoulder calmingly. "We really don't mind at all."

"Ignoring our hyper-active mother, shall we be off?" Al asked, indicating the awaiting car over-dramatically.

The other two nodded, and piled into the car, Matt once more behind the wheel. "See you next year!"

"We look foreword to it!" Mathias called back, grinning.

{}}{{}

The trip back felt a lot shorter than the one there, even though the snow was a lot heavier this time, drawing closer to Christmas.

"So you usually spend Christmas with your parents?" Ly asked, lazily skimming through her camera.

"If they can get home for the holidays, yeah. Every once in awhile it's just us, but when we were little we used to go down to Texas to spend it with some cousins, but we stopped as soon as we were old enough to stay home alone for long periods of time."

"Why do you ask?" Matthew added.

She shrugged. "Just wondering. My foster parents always used 'normal families do it like this too' as an excuse to get me and Mei in the room with them for a dinner and such."

"So are you and Mei going to spend it with your brothers this year?"

Ly scrunched her nose in thought. "Probably not. As much as I love them, they're really traditional and don't celebrate it. I like Christmas too much to give it up for their sakes."

Al nodded in understanding. Kiku was the same. He never wanted to go to their house anytime after December first, and before New Years.

"So, you guys wanna hang out on Boxing Day? Mei wanted to catch some of the sales, and made me promise to take her."

"Why'd we want to go shopping?" Matt snorted, making both passengers laugh.

"So you don't want to be my awesome gay friend?" Ly asked with a mock pout, poking the blond eagerly.

"Bi. Bi friend, Ly."

"Now, now Mattie." Alfred tsked. "We all know you're about as straight as an octopus doing the tango, so buck up and dare to set foot in _La Senza _like a real man."

"You're coming too Al." The brunette added pointedly.

"Oh no way! Nu-uh! I am _not _carrying a pink plastic shopping back! It's a heroic principal!"

"Well I guess if you can't be bothered to be a _real _man…we'll just have to go without you, now won't we?" She purred, a huge smirk plastered on her face.

{}}{{}

"I hate you all." The American muttered, shifting the bags in his hands so that the labels and pinkness wouldn't show as much. That didn't stop the sniggers coming from other teenagers passing by. One guy even hissed 'whipped' in his ear from behind, ducking and running off before Alfred could punch him out.

And the three 'girls', (yes he was considering his brother a girl in this case, the damn traitor) weren't making his life any easier. He didn't even know there were this many girls' clothing and accessories stores in the entire damn mall!

Mei was definitely the most enthusiastic about everything, and sadly, Matthew was the definite second. Ly was attempting to look nearly as annoyed as Al felt, but she was still pretty eager to be shoved in a changing room while her sister kept on handing her more stuff to try on. The smaller brunette did the same to her other three shopping companions, treating them all like her personal life-sized dress-up dolls.

Al's arms were really sore from pulling shirts and pants on and off. Luckily, he did buy enough to cover up the more embarrassing bags, but _he _knew they were there, and even if no one else could see them, they still burned in his grip.

Once Mei decided they'd put up with enough torture, they sat down to lunch at the food court, and Matthew ran to drop everything off in the car while everyone chipped in for Subway. (While Alfred gazed mournfully at McDonald's, only to have Ly smack the back of his head lightly, saying he was fat enough as it was. She hadn't forgotten carrying him down a ski hill.)

"Hey guys! Why did you not call this awesomeness to let him know you were back in town?" The four turned to see Gilbert strolling towards with a lazy grin on his face.

"Hey Gil. Sorry, it got pretty busy, what with Christmas and all. Besides, you and Ludwig were in Germany for the holidays, we couldn't exactly call long distance just to say we got home safely." Matthew explained, taking a large bite out of his sub.

"I'll forgive you 'cause you're cute, a'right? But you guys have to promise you'll be at this awesome party Kiku's throwing Friday night!"

Mei seemed to perk up a little at the sound of the Japanese boy's name. "Can we go Ly? It'll be fun!"

"No way am I letting you go to a party where there's bound to be booze!" Ly snapped. "Thanks for the offer Gil, but it wouldn't be fair if we went, and Mei didn't."

"Don't be like that!" The albino pouted. "She'll be responsible and stay sober, won't ya?"

Mei nodded quickly, beaming hopefully at her sister, who finally rolled her eyes and nodded. "Okay, but Matt, I dub you driver, okay?"

"Why not me?" Alfred asked, giving her the perfected 'kicked puppy' look.

"Oh, maybe it's because you'd jump on beer faster than your cousin Francis jumps on anything with a hole and a pulse?"

"Ah, so you've met Francis." Gilbert murmured, nodding sagely. "We go way back, Frenchy and me. But seriously, if Mattie's your DD, you've got nothing to worry about! He'll make sure you get home safe, sound, and with a sober sister, okay?"

"Okay, but if she's drunk, and I get in shit for it, your ass is mine, got that, _Gilbo_?"

The teen snorted at the sudden nickname, but nodded just the same. "See ya there guys! I love you all!" He cheered, jumping from the bench at the table, and sprinting away down the mall, cackling as he mauled his younger brother, who appeared to have been waiting for him outside Coles.

Mei was currently sitting on the metaphorical cloud, humming cheerfully to herself, while Ly sat wondering how she could made that damn German regret ever being born.

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Thanks for reading~!

Huzzah! I have returned! I couldn't stand letting you guys suffer without my awesome presence! (Woah, Prussia much?)

Next chapter, I've decided will be rather dramatic, okay? Prepare for the fury of my maniacal mental state! Updates will still be rather slow-ish, as I have a lot of schoolwork to do *shakes fist at IB program* but I'll do my best okay?

Reviews are very nice, as always! Let's be honest, I missed hearing from my readers!


	16. Chapter 16

Despite outward appearances, Ly was not really one for the party scene. Not even one of those, 'stand against a wall of the room looking cool' kind of partier. No, she was more of a 'stand against a wall of the room looking totally awkward and really wanting to get the hell out of there' kind of partier.

But Alfred, no. Alfred blended right in, looking like he was having the time of his life. Hell, even Mei was adapting better to this living room full of mingling/dancing teens better than her older sister ever could.

Ly now had a dark frown stuck on her face as her sister edged closer and closer up to Kiku, who had barely noticed the girl's presence. She didn't like the idea that the beer in her hand was slowly making her mind grow fuzzy, and that she couldn't focus entirely on ensuring that not a single drop of alcohol passed her sister's lips. Had she been a little more sober, she probably would've smacked herself for being such a hypocrite.

{}}{{}

"Hey Matt! Have you seen Ly at all?" Alfred called, pushing a few people aside so he could get to where his brother stood with Ivan, and the Russian's older sister, Katherine? Katrina? Something that could be shortened to Kat, anyway. Seeing her at a party was rare these days, as she'd been studying at all hours of the day in preparations for exams. She wanted to be sure she'd get into a decent college.

"No, I haven't. Have you checked the basement? I think Antonio, and some of the guys were starting a DDR tournament down there."

Waving in thanks, the American pattered down the stairs, ignoring the couple that was now making out in the stairwell. How the hell did all these people keep finding Kiku's parties? He could still remember in grade eight when it had just been him, Kiku, and Mattie.

Then in grade nine, their social party grew to include Alfred's buddies, Kiku's history club members, (there were only two others) and some of Matt's hockey teammates. And from there, it had somehow grown into…this. Where half of the people in the house didn't even know whose house it was!

Al stopped at the door to the basement. He'd seen the Spaniard playing DDR while drunk. It wasn't the prettiest of sights. Still, he had to check to see whether or not Ly was there.

{}}{{}

"Hey Ly?" The brunette glanced up with a start at the soft voice.

"Oh hey Kiku. What's up?"

"Would you mind terribly getting another case of beer from the cold room downstairs? I have to make sure the upstairs rooms are still only slept in by my family, and not other people."

She caught the hint. God, parties could get so disgusting sometimes. It was like the entire world was just out to get laid. "Sure, I'll be back in a bit."

"Thank you."

Glad to have something to do, Ly slid effortlessly through the crowds, and found the staircase, leaving her beer on a table, and making a mental note that it should stay there as she did so. Good thing her mind wasn't completely fuzzed up yet.

She'd never been in this house before, but the layout seemed pretty easy to follow, and after a few wrong guesses, and discoveries of random bathrooms and linen closets, she at last found the door that led to a basement.

There were a lot less people down there. Antonio and Gilbert were tag teaming at DDR, (quite well actually, despite the fact that they were both clearly wasted) while Ludwig sat on a couch, drinking with a smaller blond. A Latvian exchange student, if she remembered correctly. Arthur was there too, talking with… hang on, wasn't that Mathias? Ly paused in the stairway, staring in confusion at the Dane. Hadn't he gone back to Europe with the others?

Maybe she was a little more buzzed than she thought. Shaking her head quickly, Ly looked around until she found the plain wooden door that had to be the cold room where the beer was. 'I'll go find Mei, and we'll head home after this.' She decided, reaching for the doorknob.

{}}{{}

Ly wasn't in the basement either. Alfred frowned at that fact. He really couldn't think of anywhere else she could be. Well, he didn't really check the living room very thoroughly, but the crowds were just so thick, he couldn't get through if he tried!

Still…

Al nearly jumped out of his skin when an ice-cold hand wrapped around his wrist. "What the hell…?"

There was a girl standing behind him, glaring at him. Dark blue eyes filled with a mix of rage and sorrow. "_You_! You are the boy my brother has taken an interest in! Tell me why!" She shouted.

One look at her hair was enough to explain the rest. It was the same platinum-blonde shade of Ivan's. So _this _was the nut-job of a little sister he was always talking about. The on who wanted to marry him when they were younger. She was over it _now_, but still pretty obsessive.

And she thought he was Matt. Wasn't the confusion supposed to go the other way around? And, seriously? Him and Ivan. Ew, just…no.

"L-look, Natalya. I'm not who you think…"

The girl's eyes suddenly went from cold and hard to teary, and she crumpled against the blond, sobbing. "Why? Why would he go after a pathetic American boy when he could have someone who has loved him his entire life?"

Great. She was drunk. And a 'pour out your soul to anyone nearby' kind of drunk to boot. But, Alfred was a hero, and not about to leave a girl alone miserable. The others in the basement were still engrossed in their game, but privacy seemed to be preferable for something like this. "Hey, you wanna talk about it?"

Natalya nodded against his shirt, and followed him into the nearest room, which was pitch-black, and freezing cold. Once the door was closed, Alfred was against the wall, and he could see the anger sparking in her dark eyes again. "You're not gonna kill me, are you?" He managed to sputter out weakly.

But she wasn't listening to him. "Those lips. That my dear brother has probably kissed a thousand times. What do they feel like? What makes them better than anyone else's?"

If it weren't for the fact that Natalya was now kissing him fiercely, Al would've had the image of him kissing Ivan burned forever in his mind.

That's when the door swung open, and the light flicked on.

Ly stood in the doorway, mouth hanging slightly open, brown eyes wide with horror.

Al knew exactly how this looked. He'd seen it happen at parties all the time. People get drunk, and if they can't get a bedroom, they slink off to the nearest closet, or in this case, cold room.

He shoved Natalya away quickly. "Ly! I swear to God, it's not what you think!"

Ly wasn't the type to run off crying after something like that. No, she just threw the hardest punch she'd thrown since she first learnt how, and _then_ ran off crying.

It didn't help at all that the blonde was now screeching at him in Russian, probably about being unfaithful to her brother.

Today was destined to end badly for Alfred Jones.

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Thanks for reading~!

Yay! Drama! I knew I could whip something up! Hope you enjoyed it!


	17. Chapter 17

"Al, I don't see why it's so impossible for you to just go over there and apologize." Matthew muttered, glaring at the lump of blankets on the floor that was Alfred. He would say that it didn't look very comfortable, but he probably had his beanbag chair under there with him. No matter how upset, he'd never sacrifice comfort when sulking.

"She'll kill me if I go!" The blond threw off his comforter to stare at his twin with a look of absolute terror. "Or did you not see _this _little sweetheart last night?" He turned up his chin so that Matthew could see the cloudy purple bruise courtesy of Ly's fist.

"Come on, you hurt her, obviously. How would you feel if you walked in on her and Gilbert making out?"

"Okay, first of all, gross. _Gilbert_?" He ignored his brother's muttered, 'he's _your _friend.' "Second, she'd never do that, and finally, I was _not _making out with Natalya. She kissed me, Ly walked in, I pushed the freaky one away, Ly took it the wrong way, end of story!"

"That doesn't make a difference to what she saw." Matthew sighed, running a hand through his hair in exasperation. "She saw you kissing another girl. Things like that tend to have a negative effect on relationships. So get some clothes on, and you march right to that car, and drive your sorry ass to her house, and explain!"

"There are three _very_ good reasons why I can't do that bro."

"And those are?"

"One. The aforementioned, she'd kick my 'sorry ass' as you call it. Two. Mei probably won't even let me through the door, and _she'd _kick my 'sorry ass'. And finally, my 'sorry ass' is very numb from sitting here and I can't move."

"You have got to be kidding me." The Canadian rubbed his temples slowly. "Al. I am _trying _to help you. You're not making it easy."

"Have I ever made your life easy?" His grin faded as he saw the slowly darkening expression on his brother's face. "M-Mattie? You're not gonna kill me, are you?"

{}}{{}

And that is how Alfred ended up ringing the doorbell at Ly's place, working out every possible explanation without sounding like an asshole, and trying to erase his brother's face of pure evil from his memory. Cute little twin brothers weren't supposed to look like that.

He was expecting Mei to open the door, but it was opened by a slight woman with bright red hair. "Uh, sorry, I must've gotten the wrong house." He said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head.

"You're Alfred, right?" She called as he turned to leave.

"Y-yes ma'am."

"I'm Carol. Ly and Mei's foster mother."

Blue eyes widened as he put two and two together, and it all suddenly made sense. He was just so used to parents being away from home, he hadn't even considered the idea that Ly's weren't the same. "I'm so sorry ma'am! I didn't think…"

"Relax. Save your apologies for the one who really needs to hear them." She stepped back, and held open the door. "She's in her room."

Still slightly embarrassed, Al ducked into the house, and up the stairs, and to the bedroom at the end of the hall, where Carol pointed him. Not that she needed to, it was clear which room was Ly's based on the loud music pouring from the door. Running his 'mini script' through his head one last time, he took a deep breath, and knocked.

The music turned down. This was it. She was going to open the door, and he'd calmly explain everything, apologize for the entire party, grovel a bit, and then all would be right with the world.

"I'msosorryIsweartoGodIwasn'tcheatingonyoudon'thitme!"

Well there went the mini-script.

Ly stood in the doorway, watching him with one eyebrow raised. The good news, she hadn't yelled at him, or hit him yet. The bad news? She hadn't done anything else either. Her dark eyes looked just as blank and apathetic as they had the first day they'd met.

And that scared Alfred more than any insults or crazy moves she could ever pull. Ly was just standing there, looking…

Dead.

There was no other word for it. There was no anger in her expression, just the same 'I couldn't care less' expression from what felt like ages ago. It broke Alfred's heart to think of all the work it had taken to get Ly to trust him, to enjoy being around him, shattered by Ivan's psychotic bitch of a sister. He'd have to remind Mattie to glare at her for him next time.

"Ly." He took her by the shoulders, and shook her, as if hoping that would bring her out of the slump. "Listen, you've got every right to be pissed, but it _wasn't _what it looked like, I swear."

"Okay." He jumped as Ly started talking.

"Okay?"

"I believe you Alfred. Even you're not that much of an idiot to cheat on a girlfriend you worked so hard to get."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was too good to be true! He was going to give Mattie a huge hug when he got back.

"I don't know right now, Al."

"But you just said-."

"I know what I said, I just need a bit of time to think, okay?"

Alfred didn't know whether to be happy that Ly believed him, or shattered that she seemed even more distant and bitter than before. Still, pressing her wouldn't change a thing. "Okay."

Eyes still looking almost gone, the brunette stepped forward, and kissed Al on the cheek. "Thanks."

{}}{{}

"Alfred. I don't think she's going to 'figure out' everything, and call you anytime today." The blond ignored Kiku, and continued staring at his phone. He'd called the smaller teen to hang out, (translated: lunch at McDonald's) and explained the whole situation. Kiku was way more sympathetic than Matthew. Then again, Alfred hadn't woken Kiku up at four in the morning to talk.

"You shouldn't be so worried about it. She believes you, so the worst is over."

"You didn't see her eyes man."

"So you've said. Just let her be for awhile."

Nodding, Al started chewing on a fry dejectedly. After a long pause, he broke the silence again. "I hate Russians."

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Thanks for reading~!

Sorry this is late, like everything else. I had Anime North, (which was awesome, and I even won a fanfiction plot award) and then my voice exam, and school exams start in a couple weeks. Once everything is done, I'll have more time.

That, and I haven't even wanted to touch this story after a particular review that didn't help my mood at all, and as much as I know that one little review should be meaningless, it bugs me when people complain about my stories, and can't even be bothered to log in or something so that I can defend myself. I would turn off anonymous reviews, but some of my best ones are anonymous.

On that note of reviewing, review away please!


	18. Chapter 18

Alfred spent the most part of Monday on the school roof, face up, and watching the clouds go by. Kiku was right, the roof _was_ a great place to sulk. He'd caught a real lucky break when the janitor had left the door unlocked, and no one had shown up to drag him back down to class.

Just as that thought passed through his head, the door opened, and he groaned quietly, shutting his eyes as if that would make whomever it was go away.

"Matt said you'd be up here."

He sat up quickly. "Ly?"

The brunette smirked a bit, and sat down beside him. "Don't act so surprised." The smile vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and she continued. "I'm really sorry Alfred."

"You're apologizing… to me? What for?"

"Everything. I haven't exactly made the past few months very easy for you, not to mention the past week. A shitty childhood is a real half-assed excuse too. I guess I was just new to the whole 'affection' thing, and did everything I could to push you away. So, for what it's worth, I'm sorry, and I hope this won't have too much of an effect on us in the future."

"So… what you're saying is… it's _your _fault we had this mess, and Mattie's a liar for pinning it all on me?"

"Don't get me wrong, you were still a dumbass to take Ivan's sister into a dark room and not expect anything weird to happen, but you're still _my _dumbass."

Al shifted away slightly. "Now what if I don't want to be _your_ dumbass?"

At first, Ly blinked rapidly in surprise. This couldn't be happening! She'd just sucked up every ounce of pride she'd ever had to apologize like this, and he was breaking up with her? Then she saw the familiar excitement in his eyes that had been missing until a few seconds ago, and she grinned. "Well then I guess you're stuck with me as a buddy who can kick your ass any day." She leaned in a bit closer and frowned. "I can still see your bruise, by the way."

He was grinning now too as he shoved her away. "And whose fault is that?"

"Hey! Is that cover-up? Did you seriously put makeup on it?"

"Did not!" He yelped, face red.

"Oh my God, you did! I should tell your mom you're using her makeup."

"You're being mean again! I thought you were past this!"

"I only said it because I care."

"Liar!"

"Besides, why would I magically become nice?"

"Because you love me?"

"Unless you two wanna get caught and suspended for being up here, I'd suggest you keep it down!"

The two looked up to see Matthew standing in the doorway; arms folded, and stood up, smiling sheepishly. As they hurried past him, the Canadian clapped a hand over his brother's shoulder. "I'm glad everything worked out." He murmured.

"Me too." Alfred replied with a huge grin.

{}}{{}

"So, explain to me again why you're twins, and have two different birthdays?" Ly muttered, watching Alfred make patties do acrobatics on the grill in the twins' backyard with a faint expression of boredom. Several months had gone by, and it was finally July. Exams were done, end of the year parties finally calmed down, and they were celebrating Matthew's birthday that day, and Alfred's, three days later.

"Alrighty, I shall explain then, young padewan learner." The American replied with a smirk. "It's pretty simple, really. We were both born on July first, though it was so close to midnight, Mattie almost didn't make it in time for his favourite Canukistanian day of the year." He ignored his brother's pointed glares from the patio where he and Ivan were playing cards. "My folks were filling out the birth certificates and such, and dad started joking that it would've been funny for one of us to have been born a few days later on the fourth. Mom didn't think it was very funny, seeing as two more days of labour would've been shit from what I hear, but the doctor seemed to either have a weird sense of humour, or get confused, and he wrote the fourth on mine. Which is weird 'cause I'm older. Anyway, we didn't mind not sharing birthdays, so we never bothered to fix it. The End."

"Jeez, and I thought my family was weird."

"Well, they are, but that's besides the point. Speaking of which, did you ever find out who Yao's girlfriend was?"

"No, I wasn't there when she came over, so I haven't met her yet, but apparently they're getting married in October. Samyan says she's a nice girl, but the only reason they're getting married is because she's pregnant."

"Wow, and here I thought Yao was the responsible one in the family."

"He is, dumbass, that's why he's marrying her instead of kicking her to the streets."

Alfred hummed in his 'no comment' sort of way of not wanting to admit he was wrong, and flipped the 'mighty stack of all-American awesome' burgers onto the platter beside him. "All done guys!" He called with a grin, and carried them over to the table, where Matthew already had a bag of buns waiting.

"Hey Mattie! Guess what! You can vote now!" Al declared as he handed the Canadian the biggest patty from the platter as his birthday present.

"Yay me." He replied flatly, taking the offered gift. "Next year's gonna be way more fun."

"So are you going back up north then?"

"Yep! Ivan's taking me up to Halifax, and we're going bar-hopping with the favourite Europeans."

"And he's leaving me behind." Alfred added with a pout, which vanished as soon as he'd finished preparing the monstrosity that was a triple-stacker burger with everything on each layer. His personal speciality.

"How can you eat that?" Ly asked, scrunching up her nose. "It doesn't even look physically possible?"

She was met with the more than repulsive, but far less than refined sight of Alfred attempting to speak with his mouth full. After he was finished what was probably an intelligent and deep explanation, silence fell over the table before Ivan finally spoke. "Eloquently put as always, Jones."

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Thanks for reading~!

Now let's get this out of the way. You of the Hmmm variety, I'm sorry if you thought I was being insulting, and I'll admit, I overreacted a bit the first time, but your more recent review was a bit uncalled for. I have nothing against constructive criticism; I was just under the impression that one makes a point of saying that the work is worth the extra effort to improve upon, or else it just sounds like you think the story is crap and you just want to complain. I just got a bit defensive. If you'll notice in the previous chapter, I actually took your advice, and attempted to take it in a less predictable direction, and be a little bit nicer to Al, which I will continue to do in the future, and I thank you for the extra challenge.

About your comments on Ly being a Mary-Sue, as much as I lean to disagree, I'll also try to eliminate the worst offenders of her personality.

I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, and I also should apologize for my friend, if you've seen her response to your second comment. She tends to get really protective like that. I'd just really prefer the review page not become a war zone.

To everyone else, sorry for the rant-ish thing, and I'll see you all next time!

Also, it's a cliché in anime that people sulk on the school roof, hence why Kiku would totally recommend it.


	19. Chapter 19

"You know what? I think you're lying." Alfred muttered, still staring at the infant in Yao's arms. "There's no way he's not related to Artie."

Yao and his fiancée were visiting Ly to show off their son, Wing. And of course, Alfred had to come over to see the new addition as well. And he'd been shocked to see the pair of bushy eyebrows on such a tiny child.

Yun, Yao's fiancée giggled at his gaping-mouthed reaction. "They're quite the surprise, aren't they? My mother thinks they're a curse for not being married before he was born, but I don't mind. I think they're cute."

Once he'd gotten a better look at Wing, Alfred decided that they were kind of cute. Though he vowed to never say that to Arthur. They would only ever be cute on this kid. They were still hairy monstrosities on the Brit.

"So do you two have any plans for school next year?" Yao asked suddenly.

Alfred and Ly exchanged similar looks of annoyance. In a few months, they'd begin college hunting, (University, Matthew insisted) and this time next year, they'd be heading out. Neither of them was really quite sure where their plans lay.

"We'll just have to wing it." Al declared with a grin. "As long as we're together, I don't really care." With that, he slung an arm around Ly's shoulders, and gave her a quick one-armed hug.

She tensed, still not completely comfortable with his gestures of affection around other people, but figured she could at least get used to them. They were starting to grow on her, just like Alfred himself had. "So you're completely against the idea of a long-distance relationship?"

"Completely, one hundred percent, absolutely."

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When school started up again, the same thing was on everyone's minds. Where next? The honour students and over-achievers were already preparing applications for all the big-name schools, while those who didn't plan on going any further started full-time job hunting.

After talking with some of his friends, it seemed like everyone except for Alfred had their futures planned out. Arthur had already been issued an invitation to go to a prestigious academy in Dover, and he planned to go there to study law.

Kiku was going to an art school in California. Well, hopefully. It was still too soon to be sending out applications to colleges, but with his talent, there was no doubt in anyone's minds that he'd be accepted in an instant, maybe even with a full scholarship.

Matthew had his eye on a 'University' in Cape Breton to study filmmaking. The school, conveniently enough, wasn't too far from the one Ivan was planning on attending. Al had raised an eyebrow at that point, but didn't say anything, much to his twin's annoyance.

Even Gilbert was going to work at his dad's garage until the time came that he'd take over the business, leaving his little brother free to do whatever he wanted when the time came for his graduation.

Everyone had a plan. And Alfred was sitting in student services every other day with the guidance counsellor asking what he wanted to do with the rest of his life like some sort of broken record.

"Why don't you just apply to a bunch of schools in the area, see who accepts you, and then pick out programs from there?" Ly suggested over lunch in the cafeteria, retying her hair back.

"Mattie will laugh at me if I go to a community college." He muttered, staring glumly at his burger.

"So apply to some bigger name schools. It's not like your folks don't have the money to put you through something like Harvard. Oh wait, you have to be smart to get in there."

The stab at his intelligence didn't go unnoticed. He shot an irritated glare her way, as well as a French fry. (One of the burnt ones. There's no way he'd sacrifice a good fry.) "It has to be somewhere we can both go. We've been over this. Besides, it's not like you'd get into Harvard either. Only those soulless IB kids get there."

Ly snickered behind her hand, and nodded. "So what about some out of state schools? Not a community college, and not an Ivy League, or anything. But something in the middle. You could go for a science major, seeing as you're really good at that."

He mulled it over, and really, it didn't sound half bad. "Okay. You and me are going college hunting this weekend. With a break every hour for Mario Kart, got it?"

Ly snapped a mock-salute, brightly coloured bracelets dancing around. "Got it. And I will personally kick your ass each and every time."

"Oh it's on!"

{}}{{}

With several work/Mario-Kart-tourney nights, by December, both Ly and Alfred had a good list of the schools they planned on applying to, and Alfred had thrown his Mario Kart disc out the window in frustration. (And then had to buy another one, because he realized it was actually Matthew's)

The applications were sent out in those intimidating envelopes, students started paying more attention in class as exams began looming, and the idea of college was put on the back burner for the time being. Alfred was back to pleading with everyone he knew with half a brain cell to help him study, and Arthur was back to being the one who got annoyed of his whining the fastest, and agreed to help.

Which is how Alfred, Arthur, Matthew, and Ly, all ended up circled around the coffee table in the twins' living room.

"Honestly, you whiny git, can't you do anything for yourself?" Arthur sighed for the nth time, flipping through the textbook until he found the explanations Alfred was looking for.

"Yeah, well, you don't have a girlfriend."

"Maybe I don't want one, you damn wanker."

Alfred gasped dramatically, and wrapped an arm around Arthur's shoulders. "Are you coming out of the unicorn-filled closet at long last Artie? Because, I think I speak for all of us when I say we here are very supportive of you, no matter your choices, and are honoured that you chose to tell us first."

"Oh would you shut up you bloody git? For the last time, I was never gay, and I have no intentions of ever _being _gay! The very idea disgusts me- no offence, Matthew."

"None taken." He called back, not looking up from his notes, even as the argument between the two began escalating into a fistfight.

"Hey dumbass! If you don't stop beating up your tutor, I don't think he's going to be much help." Ly shouted, also barely looking up. "Besides, I don't think your mom will appreciate you getting blood on her carpet."

"It's impossible to have a decent conversation with you anymore." Arthur muttered as he sat up.

"You were the one who called me whiny!"

"Well you are."

Alfred stuck out his tongue in retaliation, and turned back to his notebook of scribbled notes. The formulas were all there, he just hated putting them to use. "Why did I take another math course?" He wailed. "We only had to go up to grade eleven!"

"Because it looks better on a college application, that's why." Arthur replied, somewhat testily.

There was a long pause before all four at the table muttered in unison. "But it's so freaking useless."

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Thanks for reading~!

Well, this was filler, and an excuse for me to use Hong Kong in this story, as promised a long time ago to one of my readers.

I'm thinking two or three more chapters before I call it quits on this one. I may even end it in the next chapter to have a nice twenty chapter run.

And why oh why did I forget that I wanted Ivan to be a year older than the twins? He was supposed to be in grade 12 at the beginning of this series, and the twins and Ly are in grade 11, but I made Katyusha in grade 12, so he'd have to be younger. Damn you brain! Damn you!

Oh yes, and in Canada, we say University more than college. It was so hard to keep writing college!


	20. Chapter 20

Alfred chewed his lip nervously, twirling the pen in one hand, gripping his hair in frustration with the other. The English paper just continued to stare up at him mockingly. He swore he would burn all of his notes as soon as he got home, never to even glance at their ashes again.

But for he moment, he was a bit more concerned with passing the exam. He hated to admit it, but he was sort of going to miss the K. Despite how much she got on his nerves, and vice versa, she'd been a good teacher, and made sure that they were all ready for this exam. Too bad he'd rather ignore her lessons.

He dared to glance up at the clock. They were already ten minutes in.

Maybe now would be a good time to write his name.

{}}{{}

"How'd you do Mattie?" He asked as soon as he was out. His brother was waiting for him by their lockers, along with Ly and Ivan.

"I thought I did pretty well. Better than the math exam at least."

"Aw, and Artie worked so hard to make sure you did well at that one."

"Yeah well, not that I care. _I _got into a fantastic University where I'll never need to concern myself with math ever again, because I'll be a film major."

"Oh shush you. I'll bet my acceptance letters will be waiting in the mailbox as soon as we get home." When Ly snorted in disbelief, he turned his stubborn puppy-eyed face to her. "Oh yeah? Let's see your acceptance letters missy."

Now it was her turn to look away, embarrassed. "They're probably just stuck in the mail or something."

"Who's up for brunch at Denny's?" Matt interrupted before they could actually start arguing. "After all, this _was_ our last exam of the semester. The year is halfway done, this is reason to celebrate!"

"Sounds wonderful." Ivan agreed, getting to his feet.

There was a still pause in which everyone turned to look at Alfred, who looked torn between wanting to yell at them for mocking his lack of an acceptance letter, and being really, really hungry.

"Al? You coming?"

There was a moment's pause, before he turned to his brother with a huge grin plastered to his face. "Hells yes!"

{}}{{}

"Sho… I wush thinkin'…"

"Chew first Alfred, then swallow, and _then_ talk."

Tossing his brother an irritated glance, he forced the mass of waffles he'd just inhaled down his throat. "As I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted…" He ignored Matthew rolling his eyes. "I was thinking that once my acceptance letter comes in, we should have a party."

"Why not wait until it's warmer then?" Ly asked. "You could open up your pool, and we'll have it outside."

Matthew nodded in agreement. "And then the neighbours will probably be out of town already, so you can turn up your music and they won't call the cops."

An odd smile spread across the American's face. "Ah, good times. The Smiths called them on us for the first time in grade nine. And then there was that time in grade ten when you actually had to pay bail for me and Gilbert."

"I'm glad you'll choose memories like that to cherish of our high school years."

"…Shut up and eat your pancakes."

The four continued chatting away aimlessly, mostly about not being able to wait for summer, and college the next year. "You have to be on msn every night, okay bro?" Alfred demanded. "Just because you're going away to be all Canadian and stuff doesn't mean you get to forget about me."

"God knows I couldn't forget you if I tried."

Al didn't stop pestering, even getting Ly to join in the chanting of 'please, please, please…' until the younger twin caved, and agreed to the demands.

It was pretty typical of Alfred to be making plans for his college years when he wasn't even sure that he was even going.

{}}{{}

That afternoon, an acceptance letter was sitting in the mailbox for Alfred, leading to about an hour of running around the house, laughing, and shoving it in Matthew's face. (Take that you non-believer you!) After which he promptly called Ly to tell her the good news.

"Congrats. Guess you're not completely retarded."

"You take that back." He pouted.

"Yeah, yeah I- hang on a sec." There was a muffled 'What?' followed by what sounded like Mei talking quickly. After about a minute, Ly pulled the phone back, and continued. "Mei and Carol want to have you over to celebrate with dinner. Wanna come?"

"Well I'd have to leave my baby brother to fend for himself, and I don't think I could ever bring myself to do that…"

"I'm right here, you know." Matthew called from the living room.

"Sure. I'd love to. Get me the hell out of this house."

"Again, I am _right_ here."

"Nobody cares Mattie. Okay, so when should I come?"

"I'unno, now, I guess. Unless you want cold burgers."

He froze comically. "Carol's making burgers?"

"Carol's making burgers." She confirmed, sounding almost as serious as he was. Alfred had been over for dinner before, and Carol, made the world's greatest burgers. Hand-made, hand-seasoned, the works. Even the buns were made from scratch.

"YES!" He cheered, jumping excitedly. "Be right over! Don't you move a single beautiful pattie from the platter until I'm there." He hung up, cutting off Ly's laughter, and grabbing his coat and sneakers. "See ya bro! _I'm _having the most amazing burgers ever with my new favourite family. If you're good, maybe I'll bring you one for lunch tomorrow."

"Oh I just can't wait." He muttered sarcastically, flipping channels halfway between a Huggie's ad, to some movie channel that was playing _Second-hand Lions_. "Have fun."

"I will!" He replied in a singsong voice, already halfway out the door.

{}}{{}

When he arrived at the house, he could already smell the burgers cooking on the barbeque in the backyard. All the neighbours must've been so jealous.

Alfred was greeted without a word. Instead, a sheet of paper was shoved in his face. Scanning it quickly, he saw it was an acceptance letter with Ly's name on it. He only missed a beat before speaking. "Well hello there, rejection letter. It's so nice of you to come see me instead of Ly."

"Wanna get your eyes checked dumbass? Or are you just in denial?"

Grinning, he brushed past the paper, and picked Ly up by her waist, planting a light kiss on her lips as he did. "Congrats are in order, then."

"You too. It's the same school, right?"

He glanced at the logo in the corner, and nodded. "Yep!"

"Good. I'd hate to have you whining to me on the phone every other night."

"You know I wouldn't do that. If anything, it'd be every other hour."

"True. Now come on, the burgers should be done in a minute. Do you want cheese on yours?"

"Is the Pope Catholic?"

"No, it's a conspiracy. He's really a Protestant, they just claim he's Catholic to get the world to shut up."

"Well-played. But I will have cheese."

"They all have cheese anyway. Everyone likes cheese."

He grinned, still carrying her over towards the dining room. "Have I ever told you how much I love you?"

"So much so that it's awkward, yes."

"Good. Awkwardness is a true sign of love."

"Well said." Carol declared, opening the screen door from the back patio with her foot as she carried in a tray of patties, all coated in cheese. "Ly, could you call your sister?"

"Sure."

As the brunette disappeared up the stairs, Carol turned back to Alfred. "Go get the buns from the counter, would you, Romeo?"

"If it means I get first pick of the burgers, yes ma'am!" He cheered, snapping a quick salute. As he returned, Ly and Mei were pattering down the stairs eagerly, and David was walking in from his office with a yawn.

As everyone sat down, Mei held up her glass with a grin. "To Ly and Alfred! Turns out they're not complete morons after all!"

Carol turned to reprimand the younger teen, but the two in question had already held theirs up high as well. "I'll drink to that!" Alfred agreed. And everyone's laughter quickly melted into comfortable conversation, and Al's muffled moans of appreciation at the taste of the burgers.

Once everything was cleared away, and the plates were in the dishwasher, somehow the rest of the family disappeared into the house, leaving Al and Ly alone in the living room, watching movies.

"Y'know, this time last year, we were both feeling like complete and utter morons." Alfred noted with an almost contented sigh.

"This time last year and a few months ago, you were using, 'were you named after your grandfather?' as a pick up line."

"…That was one of my favourites too."

"So are you excited for college next year?"

"It's too far away. Doesn't feel real just yet."

"Sure. Hey, Samyan says that we can stay with him and Yong Soo if we want. They're like a three minute drive from the campus."

"My mom would freak if she found out I'd be living with my girlfriend. I can just hear her now. 'They'll be married at nineteen, and she'll get pregnant, and then they'll drop out and we'll never hear from them again!'" He wailed in an actually very good imitation of his mother's voice.

"Right. Didn't think about that."

"Mhm. I want our first kid to be a little more special than that." He whispered, and then shifted his focus back to the TV as if nothing had happened.

Ly blinked in surprise, and then stared at him in confusion for a moment before deciding that she'd been imagining things. Either way, she figured she'd never quite understand the loudmouthed American who was capable of the most breathtaking moments of sweetness she'd ever seen in a guy.

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Thanks for reading~!

-Sings- It's done! It's done, it's done, it's done! Why is it that I'm so happy to say goodbye to this one? Because I found it to be more trouble than it's worth, and now I only have three stories to work on! I feel so accomplished! Just ignore my massive to-do list over there in the corner!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the ride, please make sure you do not leave any personal belongings behind. Do leave a review, and have a nice day!


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